CO885-5 — Page 545

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

8855 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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Quantity.

Vegetables re- commended to

be stored

below, and

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it is possible to do so on shore, it is impossible at sea where the meals of all must be cooked together. I have tried to meet this difficulty by giving, as far as practicable, one flour meal and one rice meal daily. While on this subject I may say that the Rules allow 14 oz. sugar only with dry meals I have found this too little and give 2 oz., making up the difference out of that sent on board as medical comfort. I have a

partially cooked meal on Saturday morning so as to allow time for all hands to wash persons and clothes and for a general furbish up on that day. This I sometimes change later on in the voyage when things are in good working order and I find that I have plenty of sugar on hand, for one of sweet rice, of which the people are very fond.

The third important point in connexion with diet is quantity; and here I beg to state, with all due deference, that the wording of par. 177, p. 68 of the Rules is too abso- lute and for these reasons, coolics cannot eat their full diet when they are sen sick and this is the case with all or nearly all during the first week and with a good many at all times of rough weather during the voyage, and they require more of the non-nitrogenous articles of diet in high than in low Latitudes, and I submit that a little "latitude" might be allowed to the Surgeon Superintendent in regulating the diets as an excessive issue of any article can be detected by his watching the sides and scuppers of the ship after a meal, and an under-issue by the condition of the people, which for his own sake, he will closely study; in fact that the diet should be regulated by what the people can consume.

The quantities of curry stuffs allowed are larger than I have ever found the coolies care for, and the way I do is to let them have what they want for a few days until they have got the curry they like, and then issue those quantities. allowing them a little more (any ginger), in cold weather.

A very useful plan is to make out a table showing the daily and weekly quantities allowed of each article of diet for the number of statute adults the Surgeon Superintendent has on board according to scale No. 2 on page 93 of the Rules, as by this he can see at a glance what his issues should be, and should there have been any under-issue in the Tropics, he can tell by a comparison with the issue sheets what additions to the diet he can make when the coolies have developed an appetite, as they generally do in the higher Latitudes.

Potatoes and onions will require looking at and picking over several times during the voyage, especially after wet weather, and the Third Mate should be instructed to count

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nuisance

the number of baskets of each delivered to be picked, platform done and the number of baskets filled after the decayed ones, &c. "way with as a are thrown overboard, and stock should be taken occasionally and compared with what should be left by the issue sheets, as they sometimes go by a process eren more rapid thun decay. I would strongly recommend that the potatoes should be kept in the hold with the other coolies stores in barrels. No awning that I have ever seen will keep the heavy rains met with, especially on the borders of the Trades, off the vegetables, and they sprout and decay very rapidly if wetted, and the platform on which they are stowed is a nuisance to the people as well as to the ship generally, as it is directly over the quarter-deck and long after every other part of the deck is dry the water from the soaked vegetables will drip down on the people and on the quarter-deck. I speak from experience, having tried this plan in my last voyage. (Hereford, Calcutta to Fiji, 1888), and was much pleased at the condition of the vegetables, and, being under lock and Of course the key, they keep better in another sense. Surgeon Superintendent will keep in his own possession the list of atores which was handed to him when he made his inspection so that he can tell at any time what quantity of any article should remain.

As to the quality of the articles of diet and medical Quality comforts, the Surgeon Superintendent should have made himself fully acquainted with that at his inspection, but there are some that deteriorate more quickly than others, viz., dals (especially gram), as already mentioned, soojee, flour, and choora, and in about the order here put down, and these should be used as quickly as possible.

MEDICAL TREATMENT.

On this subject I shall only say a few words to the Surgeon Superintendent, and these merely with reference to the characters and modes of thought of these people.

Be very careful in using an enema or even a suppository. When I say that I have heard of a case where a woman died of fright from an enema being used I think I have said enough.

Never allow patients under treatment, especially for bowel complaint, to go under any pretext among the other people at meal times, but keep them under the observation of the Senior Compounder, and have them fed on the quarter-deck until you are satisfied that they can eat any and all the articles of coolie diet with impunity.

C.O.

8855 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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