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 SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMIES. 173 English part of the Chersonese, by freeing it chap. from corrupt substances, would of necessity be '_ neglected ; and accordingly, on the heiglits at many a spot there lay the putrefying bodies of horses which had died under the toil of bringing up supplies for our army, and still lay where they fell for want of * hands ' to bury them ; whilst even in the precincts of our camps filth at one time began to get the better of human energy. This distressing condition of things The extreui* compelled Lord Eaglan to fix and acknowledge ed by Lord . ., , . Raglan in the limit of his power to wring work from his exacting ■^ _ "^ . work from soldiery. He gave an impulsion which brought his troops, about what was physically possible in the way of bringing back cleanliness to the actual pre- cincts of our camps, but found himself obliged to confess that that was the last and utmost toil that he could exact from the weary soldier. Of course, if only for health's sake, it was vehe- mently to be desired that the bodies of dead animals on the Chersonese, whether quite close or not to our tents, should cease to be tainting the air ; but Lord Eaglan had to own that (for want of men not already tasked to the utmost by other and even more needful objects) he needs must forego an object which seemed to him one of great moment.(^^) The severity of the predicament resulting from want of ' hands ' is well shown by this assign- ment of a limit which Lord Eaglan for the time could not pass. As in the instance of our vain endeavour to ' metal ' the road, so also for this less momentous though still important object of