Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/149

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
IN INDIA.
129

always go forward in the afternoon; and,before nine, or at latest ten o'clock, the new camp is again complete,in all the order and regularity of the preceding day, with its streets and squares and bazars; its baking ovens, and its shambles. The camp of a large army is a sight worth seeing, and may extend, from flank to flank, two or three miles, and with as much, or even more, regularity and order than that of a city. Each regiment occupies its place in front of the line, the tents for the soldiers first and those for the officers, one continuous street from right to left, the baggage and bazars in rear. Fresh meat, fresh butter, warm loaves and new laid eggs, are as easily-got as in a cantonment. Tradesmen of all sorts ply their trades; cutlers, shoemakers, tinkers, blacksmiths, carpenters,tailors, corn dealers,cloth merchants, confectioners, jewellers and money-changers; in fact, all the necessaries, and many of the luxuries, of life, are procurable in every large camp. Nor are amusements wanting. After the fatigue of the march is over, in the afternoon, quoits, cricket, &c., are practised. Some stroll out with their gun, and supply an extra dish of game to the mess-table, whilst others transfer the features of the landscape to their portfolios. Upon the line of march,it is remarkable that very little sickness takes place, and the Surgeons never have so little professionally to do.