Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/294

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ADVICE TO OFFICERS

pean regiments generally, throughout the Madras presidency, similar to Landour and Darjeling, should be established in these hills, and I feel assured that government would be amply compensated for any expense incurred in its construction, by the saving annually of hundreds of valuable lives. Such an asylum offered to the sick soldier,dragging out a mere existence in the plains, would be hailed as a boon, and a blessing conferred upon the rank and file.

By a census given me by Dr. Cuirie, senior medical officer in 1853, the following officers visited the Neilgherries on medical certificate:

From the Madras Presidency . . 52
Bombay . . . . . 13
Bengal . . . . . . 5
Hill-Service . . . . . 5
Total . . . 75

Dr. Currie reports in most favourable terms as to the climate of these hills. The only cases not likely to benefit by a residence there, are asthma, consumption, diarrhœa, dysentery, and affections of the liver.

9. MAHABLESHWUR HILLS.—This is the principal sanatarium of the Bombay Presidency. It stands on the ridge of the western ghauts, a range of mountains running parallel to the coast, and at this point separated from the sea by the district