40
REPORT ON
Out
ing men were perfect skeletons, and unable to shoulder a musket. of the same strength, and in the same period of time, at Chusan, in 1844, the 18th Regiment only lost two men,
During the year 1843, the mortality of the troops at Chusan was only 1 in 29, or about 3 per cent.; at Koolungsoo, Hong Kong, 1 in 34, or nearly 30 per cent.
in 12; and at the same proportion at these stations.
The invaliding was in 98th Regiment at Hong Kong is, on an average, about one man a-day.
The mortality of Her Majesty's The appearance of the troops ou parade in Chusan is that of men in robust health; they have a colour in their cheeks, an elastic and firm step, and in performing their martial evolutions there is an alacrity and precision observable, as if the men took a pleasure in carrying a com- bined movement into operation, and which is in vain sought in the evolutions of the troops at Hong Kong, where the men seem to stagger under the weight of their knapsack, musket, and accoutrements*. The Indian troops
"die like rotten sheep" at Hong Kong, but at Chusan their mortality is not 23 per cent. per annum, as shown by the follow- ing return of a regiment which served in the Chinese campaign ~~
State of the 2nd Madras Native Infantry, at Chusan, in one year.
Months.
of
into
Died.
Strength Admitted
Regiment. Hospital.
Twenty-one men died in one year, out of a strength of more than 800 men, which is only about 24 per cent! In 1843 there was only one man inva- lided. The men look very strong and healthy. Numerical strength of offi- cers twenty-six. None
August, 1843
867
53
None
September
867
33
3
October
834
75
2
November
865
56
3
December
833
39
2
January, 1844
824
29
2
died.
February
823
32
None
March
821
35
2
April
818
30
5
May
813
35
I
June
681+
34
None
July
678+
40
I
MT
* Her Majesty's 98th Regiment which suffered so severely at Hong Kong, last year, went to Chusan, where the mortality is now less than it would be in any part of England.
+ Detachment sent to Koolungsoo (Amoy), to relieve Her Majesty's 18th Regi- ment, who are dying fast.
CHUSAN.
41
434
The prevailing diseases have been mild ague and diarrhoea. The regiment has been perfectly effective since it arrived in Chusan in the latter end of 1842.
It is true that the troops suffered considerably from sickness, on their first occupation of Chusan. But instead of the health which now prevails, there would be as much sickness in 1844 as there was in 1841, if the same system were adopted. Instead of the soldiers being located, as at present, in good Chinese two-storied houses on the sea-shore, they were encamped in the wet plains and rice-fields, and on the side of a hill to the westward of the city. Numerous posts and guards were established in the burning heat of August. Her Majesty's 26th Regiment or "Cameronians" were the principal sufferers. They were encamped on the hill to leeward of the city and all its filth. They had no camp fol- lowers, and were obliged to go more than a mile through the city to the Commissariat for their food, which, when obtained, consisted of Calcutta-cured meat perfectly green with putridity, and Calcutta-made biscuit, crumbling into dust with maggots and weavils. It was impos- sible to eat such food; the dogs even rejected it. The men, worn with hunger and thirst, and harassed with numerous guards and constant alarms, drank profusely of the almost stagnant water in the canals that flow through the rice-fields around the city; and every green thing or unripe fruit which could be obtained was eaten with avidity. Large quantities of the fiery spirit termed "samshu" were easily procured, and it is not to be wondered that dysentery (no fever appeared) soon made dreadful ravages in the 26th Regiment. The conduct of the commanding officer and of those who had the charge of issuing pro- visions to the troops, was most reprehensible. There were at least thirty-five officers with the regiment and only one died; a conclusive proof it was not the climate of Chusan which killed the private soldiers of the 26th. They would have died anywhere under similar circum- stances*.
* Dr. Mc Pherson, in his work "Two years in China," at page 21, adverting to the health of our troops in Chusan in 1840, says, "It required no gifted sooth- sayer to prognosticate what the results would be when men were placed in tents pitched on low paddy fields, surrounded by stagnant water, putrid and stinking from quantities of dead animal and vegetable matter, under a sun hotter than ever experienced in India, the men on duty were buckled up to the throat in their full dress coatees; and in consequence of there being so few camp-followers, fatigue parties of Europeans were daily detailed to carry provisions and stores from the ships to the tents, and to perform all menial employments, which experience has long taught us they cannot stand in a tropical climate.
The poor men, working like slaves, began to sink under the exposure and fatigue. Bad provisions, low spirits, and despondency drove them to drink. This increased their liability to sickness, and in the month of November there were barely 500 effective men in the force. A sort of infatuation seemed to possess the minds of the authorities. Medical men, as is often the case, were put down as croakers, their recommendations were neither listened nor attended to. True, it was reported that the general was one day about to visit the hospitals, but when almost at the door of one, some pressing business called him away. Once, also, the admiral and Captain Elliot were known to have walked through the hospital of Her Majesty's 26th Regiment. There were at that time upwards of 400 poor sick fellows on mats stretched on the ground, many, alas! never to rise from it.
"This melancholy sight called forth expressions of pity and compassion. The surgeon was directed to spare no expense---to procure everything he considered