Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/124



1. CANTONMENTS.—It is time that I should introduce the stranger to the life of cantonments in the interior; and I cannot do that better than by following the career of an Assistant-surgeon.

The disposition of the Bengal army consists of eight divisions,each under a general officer, viz., that of the Presidency, Dinapore, Benares, Cawnpore, Meerut, Sirhind, Lahore, and Peshawur, subdivided into minor brigades, regiments, wings, or companies, cantoned at convenient distances apart from the head quarters of the division.

The European troops are all quartered in barracks erected by Government, the native in huts of mud and mats and thatch, partly at their own expense, partly at that of Government. The officers live in houses, either their own property,or rented at from thirty to sixty rupees a month; but in garrisons they have public quarters assigned them at a moderate rate. The extent of a large cantonment is surprising to a stranger, being from six to eight miles in extent.

2. EUROPEAN BARRACKS.—The European