A few of the worst cases were accommodated in the two or three houses in the cantonment that had escaped destruction, but the great majority had to put up with such shelter from the burning heat and drenching rain as an ordinary soldiers' tent could provide.

Those who could bear the journey and were not likely to be fit for duty for some time were sent away to Meerut and Umballa; but even with the relief thus afforded, the hospitals throughout the siege were terribly overcrowded.

Anaesthetics were freely used, but antiseptics were practically unknown, consequently many of the severely wounded died, and few amputation cases survived.
A great aggravation to the misery and discomfort in hospital was the plague of flies.

Delhi is at all times noted for having more than its share of these drawbacks to life in the East, but during the siege they were a perfect pest, and for the short time I was laid up I fully realized the suffering which our sick and wounded soldiers had to endure.

At night the inside of my tent was black with flies.