Page:Suakin, 1885.djvu/39

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who kindly allowed me to look through them. The facts, therefore, are unimpeachable, and show a degree of suffering concerning which people at home knew nothing at the time, and know little now. The returns referred to were most carefully made out, and amongst other information contained in them, I noticed a calculation of the per centage of sickness as applied to the age of the men. The cases were divided into three heads—men under 25 years of age, men between 25 and 35 years, and men between 35 and 45. I found that at least sixty-five per cent of the total number of cases occurred among the men under 25 years of age, while the men between 35 and 45 escaped with comparative immunity. Of the fourteen hundred men who passed through the battalion, by far the greater number were lost during the unhealthy season, that is between August and the end of October, and I found that from the 15th of November to the 27th of February, there were only 333 fresh admissions into hospital, the strength of the battalion during this period averaging about 520 of all ranks. The battalion was split up into various detachments, and the amount of sickness was materially influenced by the position of the detachment. In this way those