1818:
description by Dr. Henry Marshall

During the early months of the year, the spirit of disaffection extended over the greater part of the Kandyan country: the exertions of the troops became, in a greater or less degree necessary, in every district of the newly acquired provinces. For the purpose of suppressing the turbulent commotion of the inhabitants, the troops were almost incessantly in motion. They were therefore much harassed by hard duty, frequently exposed to bad weather, and liable to many privations. A chief part of their duty was to follow the disaffected into their fastnesses, for the purpose of seizing or dispersing them, and to destroy the cattle and articles of subsistence which had been there collected. Another essential part of their duty was to convey military stores and provisions from one station to another. In the performance of these duties, the troops underwent much fatigue; they had frequently to climb high and rugged hills, and to wade through deep mountain torrents. In addition to the bodily labour endured upon these expeditions, the men were often greatly exhausted from long fasting. On account of the closeness and almost impenetrable nature of the country, the troops were greatly exposed to the missile weapons of the enemy. In general, the pathways were so narrow and rugged that the men were obliged to march in single file. A large flank was thus presented to the insidious enemy, who lay concealed in the woods that bordered the defiles through which the troops had to pass: from this place of security the lurking Kandyan could, without much endangering himself, greatly annoy escorts and troops as they moved along the pathways.

For the purpose of surprising the disaffected chiefs and small hordes of the enemy, it was, from the beginning of the insurrection, necessary that the military parties should march under the cover of night. On account of the activity of the enemy, and the hurtful effect of his missile weapons it was eventually deemed advisable that the ordinary plan of marching troops, conveying stores, and transporting sick, by day, through the disaffected part of the country should be abandoned, and an attempt made to perform these operations under the obscurity of night. The Kandyans rarely evinced a disposition to annoy the troops after sunset.

By marching during night, fewer casualties occurred by the enemy. The labour and long-protracted fatigue of the troops were, however, greatly increased. This may easily be conceived, when we contemplate the ruggedness of the country, and the impracticable nature of the pathways. In addition to the natural impediments which occurred, such as deep rivers, rugged precipitous roads, morasses, &c. the Kandyans constructed many artificial means of obstruction*. They often evinced considerable ingenuity in the fulfilment of this design. The progress of troops and escorts was therefore extremely slow during night. They seldom could effect above a mile in an' hour Frequently, it was impossible for the escorts of provisions and stores to cross the mountain torrents in the obscurity of night. When this happened, tile men were obliged to halt, and to lie down upon the damp grass, exposed to every variety of weather. The chilly dews of night were, no doubt, fertile sources of disease; but they were perhaps less injurious than exposure to much rain and remaining fang in wet clothes.

Scarcity of food was severely felt at a number of the stations. Around many of of the posts the country was a complete wilderness; not an article of sustenance could be procured, either for money or by force. The means of transporting commissariat stores were often very limited. Hence the ration, in many of the posts, was greatly reduced. Paddy, the unhusked grain from which rice is obtained, was very frequently issued to the troops in lieu of rice.

In consequence of the difficulty of procuring an adequate number of coolies, the means of conveying sick were often deficient. On this account they were sometimes unavoidably detained, for a longer or shorter period, at the dependent posts, and thereby deprived of the advantage of medical assitance during the early stage of disease The narrowness and rugged state of the pathways rendered it often necessary to adopt an uncomfortable mode of conveying sick, which was to fix both ends of a cumley (an Indian blanket) to a bamboo. The man was put into the cumley, and carried, by means of the bamboo, upon the shoulders of two coolies. This was a very inconvenient mode of conveying men who were wounded.

In the above manner the troops of all classes were employed, until about the beginning of November. The most active of the disaffected chiefs were taken on the 31st of October, when the insurrection terminated.

Much sickness was the result of these exhausting efforts and privations. Indeed, it was impossible for men long to endure with impunity, in any, climate, the accumulated hardships and privations to which the troops were almost constantly exposed.

There was no very remarkable increase of disease among the troops in the neighbourhood of Kandy, until about the middle of March. The augmentation of the sick list, at this time, arose in a particular manner from the great prevalence of extensive sloughing ulcers chiefly of the lower extremities.

This intractable disease affected, in different degrees, all classes of the troops. The Europeans were primarily the greatest sufferers: eventually the natives of the peninsula of India were its chief victims. The Malays and Caffries suffered comparatively but little from this complaint.

The troops stationed in and near to Badula suffered likewise from sloughing ill-conditioned ulcers, and nearly about the same time as in Kandy. They were not, however, so general among the troops in the former station as in the latter. At the hospital of Kandy, one fifth of the European patients admitted during the year was on account of ulcers; whereas in Badula the proportion was only one in ten.

The prevalence of sloughing ulcers, among Europeans, declined about the end of June: not many cases occurred after this period. The Indians continued to be very great sufferers by this complaint through the whole year.

Fever became prevalent among the detachments in Lower Oowa towards the end of March; and during the succeeding month, the troops employed in the province of Walapane became universally sufferers, either from fever or dysentery. Several of the posts in this district were abandoned in the month of May, on account of the sickness of the troops. Still, however, many insalubrious posts were occupied, and fever and dysentery prevailed to a very great degree. These diseases appeared among the troops that occupied posts formerly deemed healthy. Indeed, the men in none of the stations escaped the influence of the cause of fever; but as the exigencies of the service required a frequent interchange of troops, it became very difficult to estimate how far one district exceeded another in the endemical causes of disease. On the interior terrace, I think we may, in a very great degree, attribute the prevalence of fever and dysentery to extreme fatigue; to great and sudden transitions of temperature and varieties of weather, the men being often long under the influence of the sun by day, and much exposed to the cold chilly dews of night; to frequently walking and sleeping in wet clothes, to the scantiness and bad qualities of provisions; to frequent long fasting; depressing moral impressions; to hardships of various kinds; and to great privations of the ordinary comforts belonging to the condition of a soldier. The endurance of these hardships eventually debilitated the -constitution of the men, thereby augmenting their sensibility to the influence of the causes of endemic fever, which perhaps abound more o r less in some seasons or states of weather, in all tropical, and particularly in all uncultivated jungly countries, where the temperature of the atmosphere, in the shade, ranges between 80° and 90° of the thermometer.

These observations are intended to apply principally to the prevalence of disease among the troops upon the hills. With regard to the insalubrity of the flats, and particularly the flats on the east side of island, much may be attributed to the unwholesomeness of the atmosphere, aggravated no doubt by predisposing and exciting causes. The deplorable mortality which happened among the men stationed in the district of Vellasse, proves how destructive to human life the atmosphere of these woody flats is in some seasons.

Kottabawa is the chief post in the province of Vellasse. It was one of a line of posts that connected Batticaloe with Badula. This line led through the low flat country that extends without much interruption from the high hills which form the eastern rampart of the interior terrace, to the sea. Kottabawa was an hospital station, and the sick of the dependant posts were there accommodated. No remarkable degree of sickness occurred among the troops on this line previously to about the 10th of July. The month of June had been excessively hot, and the air dry. A hot wind blew from the north, which parched and withered vegetable life. This kind of weather continued without much melioration until about the middle of October. The supervention of an arid condition of the atmosphere was followed by much disease; fever; became general, I may almost say universal. The consequent mortality was exceedingly great. The number of Europeans which was exposed to the climate of Vellasse, from the 12th July to the 20th October, amounted to two hundred and fifty-four, only two of this number escaped fever, the commanding officer and Assistant-surgeon Hoatson**. The amount of the casualties which occurred may be thus briefly stated:

Number attacked with fever ................. 252

Died of this number in Vellasse .......... 79

The remainder, namely, 173, were transferred as under stated. The last of the transfers left Kottabawa on the 20th October.

114 from the hospital at, Kottabawa to Batticaloe; of these died ......74

16 from ditto to Allipoot and Badula; of these died 12

43 were transferred to Batticaloe, or Allipoot without having been admitted into hospital at Kottabawa. I have not therefore been able to ascertain how many of these transfers died.A considerable number of them were men who sunk under the influence of fever while on escort duty between Batticaloe and Allipoot, and who proceeded direct to one or other of these stations. Presuming, however, that the proportion of deaths was equal to the mortality which occurred among the transfers from the hospitals, the amount will be..................... 28

173 Total Deaths 193

Probable number discharged from the hospitals ........... 59

The constitutions of all those discharged must have been greatly impaired.

While fever was making such ravages among the Europeans at this post, a detachment of Caffries, consisting of about 60 individuals, continued healthy. The indigenous inhabitants of Vellasse suffered much by fever during the endemic. It was impossible however, to ascertain the extent.

At this period a circumstance occurred by which it was shown, that the susceptibility of particular individuals to the cause of fever varies considerably. On the 10th of September a detachment of the 73d regiment, consisting of 33 individuals including a commissioned officer, joined the post at Kottabawa from Trincomale. They were all attacked with fever, and according to the following dates:

On the 21st Sept. 6 including the commissioned officer.
22d 6
23d 3
24th 4
25th 7
26th 2
28th 2
6th October 2
8th 1
33

Fifteen of the above number expired at Kottabawa by the 20th October.

The cause of fever was likewise extremely active at Minery. In October, a detachment consisting of 26 men belonging to the 86th regiment, was sent from Trincomale to occupy a position in the neighbourhood of the Minery lake. Not one of this number escaped fever, or dysentery. They were all transferred sick to Trincomale: degree of mortality I have not learned, according to report it was very great.

The fate of a detachment of the 86th regiment, that passed through Vellasse in October is another proof of the insalubrity of the climate of that district at some periods. The detachment left Batticaloe late in September, 192 strong, and without a single man sick. It passed through Kottabawa early in October on its way to Oowa. Towards the middle the same month, many of the men were seized with fever. The first death happened on the 20th of October. By the 20th of December 125 men of the detachment had been at-tacked with fever or dysentery, and 29 had expired. At this date there were about 30 men in hospital, suffering severely under one or other of these diseases.

In the following Table I have stated the number of commissioned officers belonging to four regiments employed in the field, the number of deaths by fever, the number wounded, together with the number killed, during the year: 1818

The subjoined Tables are rather a relative than an absolute account of the casualties which occurred among the different classes of troops. I have, notwithstanding, omitted no opportunity of making them as comprehensive and accurate as possible. Some casualties may, however, have escaped me. In regard to the strength I believe it is pretty accurate. The Tables are interesting, by showing distinctly the nature of the fatal diseases to which each class of people is more particularly liable. On account of the difficulty of of obtaining correct returns of the strength and casualties of the Honourable Company's native troops employed in Ceylon during this year, I have not included them in the following Table.

By Table No. 1, it appears, that 415 Europeans died in consequence of disease in the Kandyan country, or were killed in the field. To this number may be added 74 deaths, being the casualties which occurred among 114 transfers sent from Vellasse to Batticaloe: the number will then be 489. During the year, 543 Europeans under disease were transferred from the hospital at Kandy to Colombo.

The proportion of deaths in this number I estimate at 28, or one in 19, which is the ratio of deaths in the whole number treated in the hospital of Kandy. The general amount will then be 517, or a little more than 27 per cent. of the whole strength. This statement does not include the casualties that occurred among the transfers from Lower Oowa to Hangbangtotte, which were at one time very numerous, the transfers from Minery to Trincomale, nor from Kornegalle and other stations on the west side of the island to Colombo. The loss of Europeans, during the year, cannot therefore be estimated under 30 per cent.; in all probability it was more.

* In the pathway along which the troops had to march, they frequently dug pits, and placed pointed stakes in the bottom of them.. The mouth of the pit was slightly covered with branches of trees and light sods, for the purpose of concealing the trap. Sometimes they placed bows and arrows along the side of the pathway. The arrow was discharged when a passenger touched a withy, which communicated with the bow. At other times, large stones were placed upon trees, whose branches overhung the road. By touching a withy which lay on the pathway, the stones were discharged upon the passengers. Sometimes young trees were bent near to the ground, and slightly secured in that position. When a concealed withy was touched by an unwary soldier, the tree regained its natural position with a force proportioned to its strength, thereby injuring whoever happened to be within its influence.

** the commanding officer's health being much impaired, he was recommended to return to Europe. He embarked at Point de Galle in March 1819, and died on the passage home.

Source:
Marshall. Henry, Notes on the Medical Topography of the Interior of Ceylon. London: Burgess and Hill, 1821.
Transcript from section: "On the Health of the Troops" [pp.97-105].

Transcript prepared by Robin Walsh
Macquarie University Library, Sydney, Australia. © 2003

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