resses are thickly peopled, the continual
motion within tends, I think, to mix up this gas with the air above;
while the numerous fires lighted within, by rarefying that below,
tend to draw down a regular supply of the atmospheric air from above
for the benefit of the inhabitants. When natives enter upon the
occupation of an old fortress of this kind, that has remained long
unoccupied, they always make a solemn religions ceremony of it; and,
having fed the priests, the troops, and a crowd of followers, all
rush in at once with beat of drums, and as much noise as they can
make. By this rush, and the fires that follow, the bad air is,
perhaps, driven off, and never suffered to collect again while the
fortress remains fully occupied. Whatever may be the cause, the fact
is certain that these fortresses become deadly places of abode for
small detachments of troops, or small parties of any kind. They all
get ill, and few recover from the diseases they contract in them.

From the year 1817, when we first took possession of the Sagar and
Nerbudda Territories, almost all the detachments of troops we
required to keep at a distance from the headquarters of their
regiments were posted in these old deserted fortifications. Our
collections of revenue were deposited in them; and, in some cases,
they were converted into jails for the accommodation of our
prisoners. Of the soldiers so lodged, I do not believe that one in
four ever came out well; and, of those who came out ill, I do not
believe that one in four survived five years. They were all abandoned
one after the other; but it is painful to think how many hundreds, I
may say thousands, of our brave soldiers were sacrificed before this
resolution was taken. I have known the whole of the survivors of
strong detachments that went in, in robust health, three months
before, brought away mere skeletons, and in a hopeless and dying
state. All were sent to their homes on medical certificate, but they
almost all died there, or in the course of their journey.

Notes:

1. December, 1835. The name of the village is spelled Behrole by the
author.

2. The Dasan river rises in the Bhopal State, flows through the Sagar
district of the Central Provinces, and along the southern boundary of
the Lalitpur subdivision of the Jhansi District, United Provinces of
Agra and Oudh. It also forms the boundary between the Jhansi and
Hamirpur Districts, and falls into the Betwa after a course of about
22