1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 321
2 those at other stations on the frontier, suffered
3 severely from cholera; and while yet in a weakly
4 condition, the 50th regiment was obliged to take
5 the field in December against the Sikhs, where it
6 maintained its well-earned character for bravery,
7 experiencing a great loss in killed and wounded.
8 Such a regiment ought to have been cared for, but
9 on its return from the field it was placed in the
10 ricketty cantonment; and in the midst of their
11 families, the gallant fellows who had escaped the
12 grape and swords of the Sikhs were, in an instant,
13 hurried into eternity. Werea ship of inferior struc-
14 ture to be launched, and from its frailty, fall a prey to
15 the waves, when others of a stronger build would
16 escape, the catastrophe would not be attributed to
17 any other cause than the original fault in her
18 construction ; and if temporary barracks are blown
19 down in a north-wester, which more substantial
20 ones would have weathered, the cause of the
21 calamity is plain enough.
22 Putting aside the fearful destruction of life among
23 the women and children, as not entailing actual loss
24 on the state, we have here a sacrifice of no fewer than
25 fifty fighting men. The value of each, ina pecuniary
26 point of view, is one thousand rupees. Thus, a loss
27 has been sustained of £5000 sterling, at the lowest
28 estimate. Not only, however, must the individuals
29 who were actually killed, be taken into the account,
30 but many of those who were so maimed and con-
31 tused as eventually to be rendered unfit for service.
32 Could such an accident have been prevented ?—is the
33 vaL. I. Y