1 320 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
2 an untoward occurrence, at a season of the year
3 when the exposure of both European and Native
4 troops may be attended with sickness and mor-
5 tality.
6 Melancholy It has been mentioned in a former portion of
7 loss of life at
8 Leodianah in this work, that Sirdar Ajeet Singh had set fire to
9 oth Maine the barracks of Her Majesty’s 50th regiment, or
10 Sunde Queen’s own, at Loodianah. This gallant regiment
11 oe le suffered severely, in killed and wounded, during the
12 inanorth- late campaign, and it was destined to suffer in even
13 a more marked, awful, and totally unlooked for
14 manner. In one of those violent storms denomin-
15 ated “north-westers,” and which fill the atmosphere
16 with dust, converting day into night, the temporary
17 barracks of this gallant regiment were blown down,
18 and the inmates buried in the ruins. The loss of
19 killed and wounded was truly melancholy amounting
20 to no fewer than 210 men, women, and children.
21 This melancholy catastrophe occurred on the even-
22 ing of the 20th of May.
23 These barracks were erevted in the beginning of
24 1844, for the reception of a wing of the Honourable
25 Company’s 2nd European regiment, as a temporary
26 residence in the hot weather and rains. During
27 these seasons the buildings stood and served the
28 purpose for which they were originally intended.
29 But instead of their places being afterwards supplied
30 by permanent barracks, Her Majesty’s 50th were
31 placed in them after the departure of the 2nd
32 European regiment for Scinde. During the year
33 1845, the European soldiers at Loodianah, like