Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 | Page 6

an
engagement was in progress was able to accompany the Ambulance
wagons, so that I had all my necessaries on the spot, even at the first
dressing station. In point of fact when with the Highland Brigade, on
some occasions, we did all necessary operations on the spot during the
progress of fighting; a most useful performance, since fighting on
several days did not cease till dark, and the evenings were much too
cold to allow of operations being done with safety to the patients. The
great advantage of the buggy was its lightness and smallness. On one
occasion it accompanied me between 500 and 600 miles without a
single accident, beyond the fact that one night I was relieved of both
my horses by some troopers whose own were worn out.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--My Buggy on the veldt at Bloemfontein. (Photo
by Mr. Bowlby)]

With regard to the general health of the troops as subjects of surgical
wounds, I suppose a better class of patient could scarcely be found. The
men were young, sound, well set and nourished, and hard and fit from
exercise in the open air. Beyond this, in spite of the scarcity of
vegetables, a certain amount of fruit, rations of jam, and lime juice
made any sign of scurvy a rare occurrence--I never saw a case during
the whole of my wanderings. The meat was good, especially in the
early part of the campaign, when it was for the most part brought from
Australia and New Zealand, and we enjoyed the two collateral
advantages of getting plenty of the ice which had been used for the
preservation of the meat, in the camps, and the still greater one of
having no butchers' offal to need destruction or prove a source of
danger. When bread was to be got it was fairly good, and the biscuit
was at all times excellent. Except on the advance from Modder River to
Bloemfontein, as far as I could judge, no large bodies of the men ever
really suffered from shortness of food, and then only for a few days.
Drink was a more serious problem: in the early days beer was to be got
at the canteens, but with the increase of numbers and difficulties of
transport this ceased to be the case, and water was the sole fluid
available. This was often muddy, and the soldiers would take very little
care what they drank unless under constant supervision; hence a great
quantity of very undesirable water was drunk. None the less I think the
water was more often the cause of sand diarrhoea than of enteric fever.
A large quantity of fluid was by no means a necessity if the men would
only have exercised some self-control. During the first week I spent at
Orange River, I drank lime juice and water all day, but after that time,
by a very slight amount of determination, I thoroughly broke myself of
the habit, and drank at meal-times only. Most of the men however
emptied their water-bottles during the first hour of the march, and the
rest of the day endured agony, seizing the first opportunity of drinking
any filthy water they met with. When, for instance, we camped near a
vlei, and the General took the greatest care that the mules and horses
should be watered at one spot only, in order to preserve the cleanliness
of the rest of the pool, the men would often go and fill their
water-bottles amongst the animals' feet rather than take the trouble to
walk the few necessary yards round. In such particulars they needed
constant supervision.

The climate on the western side was a great element no doubt both in
the general healthiness of the men and in the general good results seen
in the healing of wounds. The days were often hot; thus even in
November at Orange River the thermometer registered 115°F. in the
single bell tents, but on the other hand the nights were cool and
refreshing. The air was very pure and exceedingly dry, while the
constant sunshine not only kept up the spirits, but also proved the most
efficient disinfector of any ground fouled to less than a serious extent.
Dust was our principal bugbear; and when a camp had been settled for
a few days, flies; both of these evils increasing rapidly as the stay on
any one spot was prolonged. My personal experience of rain was small,
but I was twice in camp, once at Orange River and once at
Bloemfontein, when very heavy rain fell, and this was sufficient to
make the camps terribly uncomfortable for a few days.
Under these conditions, as might be expected, until the outbreak of
enteric fever the health of the men was remarkably good, minor
ailments alone prevailing. One