Their shoes, originally bad, were in many cases totally destroyed before they had been long used, and their only suit of clothes was soon reduced to shreds. The tells us that " they had had the suit they wore in the voyage out to the Mediterranean, through the service in Bulgaria, through the sea-voyage to the Crimea; they had worked in these coats in the trenches, and fought all through with them, they were perfectly threadbare, and in many instances did not exist." All this, too, was allowed to take place, and the men to be exposed to the wet of winter, and severe cold in the trenches, while " thousands of coats were lying unused, and tens of thousands of greatcoats, blankets, and nigs filled the Quartermaster-General's stores, or the harbour of The one only blanket which each soldier possessed, afforded, even when dry, but a feeble protection against the cold of the tents, but as he generally carried the same blanket with him into the trenches, it was commonly dirty and soaked with water when he came to sleep in it at night.
The soleless boots were seldom removed when he lay down to sleep, so firmly adherent were they to the swollen feet. Such was the condition of " The poor soldier that so richly fought, Whose rags sham'd gilded arms." The uniform which, of all others, seemed best adapted The loss of the Prince was one great cause of the deficiency of warm clothing. In her went down 53,000 woollen shirts, 17,000 drawers, 16,000 blankets, 2,500 watch-coats, 25,700 socks, 3,700 rugs. for the Criir. that worn by our encini. <. The long warm grey coat gathered in folds over the L the low;md the wide half boot, within whieh the trousers were tueked, formed a much better provision thfl eold winds of winter, and the tenacious mud, than the dress worn by any portion of the allied army.
Tin- coats of the Sardinians approached nearest in to those of the Russians, and the French Baiters, though most serviceable, were not equal to the half boot of their enen The of the troops during the early part of tinwar was in keeping with their food and clothing. At first the common bell tent was used; huts were afterwards added. This tent measures 13 feet 8 inches in dian d feet in height. It contains about 512 cubic feet of air, has almost no means of ventilation when closed, and was yet made to accommodate ii men, who lay at niirht without bedding on the hare ground. It may be easily imagined how vitiated the f these tents was in the morning, when had hern kept close all night by their inmates in make themselves warm.
In pitching the tents, far too little space was, at first, them. In many camps, the ropes, intheir full length, were gp hardened, while it unduly crowded the i -arily 1. MI their stability. This arranp I was most injudi -1 did much, I doiil.t not, to the camp more injurious to health than it would otherwise have The enrth upon which tents are piteh, d undoubtedly absorbs much animal efiiuvia. and comes to give out unhealthy emanations, which remain in the upper part of a tent, and ean be got quit of only by striking it altogether, or removing it to another spot. The huts at iirst used for barracks were that known as the " Portsmouth hut," which measured 27 X 15 feet inside, 6 feet to the eaves, and 12 to the ridge.
Each contained about 3,645 cubic feet of air, and when occupied by twenty-five men, allowed about 146 cubic feet to each. The Chester huts, which came to camp at a later period, were larger and better constructed than the Portsmouth. The errors, however, of all the huts, were the want of sufficient independent means of ventilation, and the mode in which they were usually erected. {Sufficient care was not always taken to prepare the ground by draining and covering it with loose rubble, before laying the flooring. Their walls, too, except in the case of the panelled huts, were too thin. The duty which fell to be performed by the army was extremely heavy during the whole period of the siege, and especially during the first winter, when the amount of trench to be constructed was very great, and when, from the number of sick, a double share of duty fell on the effective.