strict order of duty, many days might have passed before I could have got the supplies, and disastrous consequences might have ensued. Afterwards, when an extensive ruin was allotted as an hospital for the artillery, instead of making official indents for repairs, and pressing the already overworked barrack department to have done what they could not do for weeks, I borrowed a lot of tools, set all my dooly bearers to collect materials, engaged carpenters, bought what I could not find in the ruins of the town, and by personal superintendance, in a few days, made a comfortable hospital. My own house I began on the 4th of May and took possession of it on the 12th of May, and I was better quartered than most officers. No surgeon who knows his duty is embarrassed by the dread of responsibility, and when the public stores are not available, he buys what he wants if he can, and his contingent bill, when forwarded through the proper channel, is paid.
9. CONVEYANCE OF SICK.—The usual mode of conveying the sick and wounded is the same now as in the days of Clive, viz., by the dooly—a sort of bed, with four low legs and corded bottom, suspended on a bamboo pole, over which is fixed a waterproof top with dependant curtains; the patient reclining at full length. For the conveyance of a dooly six men called bearers are allowed; two in front and two in rear, the other two
