Typhoid from drinking surface water, and the other various kinds of
fever which follow exposure to the heats of the day or the chills of the
night, soon take a hundred men from the fighting strength, and the
general of an Indian frontier force has to watch with equal care the
movements of the enemy and the fluctuations of the hospital returns. As
soon, therefore, as Sir Bindon Blood saw that the Mamunds were desirous
of peace, and that no further operations against them were probable, he
sent one of his British regiments to their tents near the Panjkora.
About sixty wounded men from the actions of 30th September and 3rd
October, and the same number of sick, formed the bulk of the convoy. The
slight cases are carried on camels, in cradles made by cutting a native
bedstead in two, and called "Kajawas." The more serious cases are
carried in doolies or litters, protected from the sun by white curtains,
and borne by four natives. Those who are well enough ride on mules. The
infantry escort is disposed along the line with every precaution that
can be suggested, but the danger of an attack upon the long straggling
string of doolies and animals in difficult and broken ground is a very
real and terrible one.
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