Page:Suakin, 1885.djvu/40

 who suffered least were those quartered at the Right Water Fort, some two miles out from the town; while the detachments at Fort Ansari and Island Redoubt, nearer the town, suffered most. The prevalent diseases were enteric fever, intermittent fever, simple continued fever (including typhoid), dysentery, diarrhoea, and debility, under which head were included affections from the sun.

Such, then, is the effect of the climate of Suakin on Europeans, and the above figures are a fitting monument to what the British soldier is called upon to suffer for Queen and Country. I have no wish to be an alarmist, and long ere these pages appear in print, I pray that the English soldier may have left these shores, never to return, I mention nothing about the actual number of deaths, because, although a great number occurred at Suakin, by far the greater number took place at sea, between Suakin and Suez. There was often a difficulty in sending the worst cases away in time, as the vessels available were few, and in this way many valuable lives were lost that might have been saved. There were, of course, many who recovered when they reached home, and numbers of these were not permanently