In the course of the month 38 more cases of the same disease, most violent and rapid in their progress, appeared in the same regiment. Three died, either in the hospital or on the lines, before they could be conveyed to the pest-house, and one died in his way thither. One man of the 1st Bombay regiment died of the same disease, who had clearly got the contagion from the former corps, near which their hospital was situated.
The weather during the month was changeable; towards the end it was boisterous. The thermometer in tents was sometimes so low as 49°, and rarely rose above 70°. The sky was cloudy, but rain fell only once in eight days. In the beginning of the month there was a considerable number of cases of continued fever. There were fewer intermittents than in the last month. The number of cases of dysentery was decreasing.
Towards the end of the month there were many cases of catarrh, pneumia, and rheumatism. The diseases of the eyes were greatly on the decline. In the weekly return of the 3d are three hundred and twelve cases, whereas in that of the 31st there appear only ninety eight.
JANUARY, 1802.
With the exceptions already mentioned, all the army, during this month, was in Alexandria, where they attained a degree of health they never had at Rosetta. No case of the plague had been known at Alexandria when the Indian army arrived there; and the strictest precautions were taken to cut off the communication with Rosetta and the 7th regiment.
In the beginning of the month the weather was extremely boisterous: the wind, generally from the north and north west, was very high. For eleven days there was rain, and often very heavy. The thermometer was once below 60°, and never above 70°, in a house in the centre of the city. The number of sick was much smaller, but the mortality greater, than in any preceding month. On the 1st, Mr Price, who was in charge of the pest-house near Rosetta, was himself attacked with the disease, which with him proved very violent.
On the following day, three of six Arabs, who acted as in-servants to the pest-house near Rosetta, were also attacked.
On the 6th, a Sepoy of the 1st Bombay regiment died suddenly in the hospital of the corps at Alexandria; the sick of this corps having arrived from Rosetta but a few days before.
On the 7th, two cases of the plague, from the same regiment, were detected in the camp at Alexandria.
On the 8th, the 1st and 7th Bombay regiment marched to, and encamped at, Aboukir-bay, where a pest-establishment was placed for them.