Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/367



A VISIT TO THE GRAN ClIACO. 337

stringent orders of Marshal Caxias_, who well knows that cholera is to be prevented by drainage, and that water impregnated with sewage and decay breeds fever. This purification takes the Brazilians some time, whereas the Argentines never attempt it. The men were under canvas, comfortably lodged in the gipsy " pals/^ which are here everywhere used ; they are better than our bell-tents, but inferior to the French tente d^abris. As each holds only one officer or two soldiers, they occupy much ground, and they are slow to pitch and to strike. On the other hand, they serve in this dangerous climate to prevent infectious disease.

The men were in excellent condition, well clothed, well fed, and only too well armed. Meat lay all about, and the half-wild dogs were plump as the horses. Poorly azotised, uncastrated, and killed after two or two and a half years, the flesh is here spongy, but still far more nutritious than in the Brazil. All must be of the best quality procurable, and the contracts are published yearly in an annex to the Relatorio or Report of the Minister of War. The cost of feeding each soldier is now about $1 200 (milreis).* Besides meat the men receive per six head a daily bottle of cacha9a (Brazilian rum) ; and they think with the Irishman, that if bread be the stafi" of life, whisky is the life itself.

The cavalry was armed as I have before described ; the artillery with sabre and carbine, often the Spencer ; and the

or eighty men, averagino^ 3| to 4| lbs. per head ; farinha (mandioc flour), one-eightieth of the alqueire; mate, three ounces; salt, one ounce ; and tobacco, half an ounce. Cavalry on the inarch have an increased ratio of meat, one bullock to sixty men. Infantry on the march have one bullock to seventy head ; farinha, one-sixtieth of the alqueire ; mate, two ounces ; and salt and tobacco as in camp. Charqui (jerked meat) is served out on Wednesdays; and bacalhao, or stock-fish, on Fridays. The diet is varied with Brazilian lard (toucinho), black beans (feijao), rice and vege- tables. In the morning bread and coffee, and before night coffee, is served out. Of course the army has not always thus been living in clover, and at times it has suffered from severe privations.
 * Cavah'y and infantry in camp receive per diem one bullock to seventy

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