Huts and hovels are few in number compared with the tents, which, when carefully pitched, witli a good gutter round them, make endurable habitations for this time of year, although liable to be overthrown by very high winds. But against the cold, when the canvas crackles with the frost, and the icy breath of winter enters at every chink, they afford poor protection indeed. If we are to pass another winter before Sebastopol — I mean to say, if the higher powers consider it probable, or even possible, that we shall do so — it is to be hoped that measures will be taken for the preservation of so costly a commodity as the British soldier. Seasoned veterans, who have survived the bitter sufferings of the winter of 1854-5, may be able to withstand the less severe hardships of that of 1855-6; but what do our rulers imagine will become of youthful recruits, in the year's worst season, on these inclement heights, unless provision be made for their comfort superior to any at present existing?
Rations and raiment will, doubtless, not be deficient, but, as far as appearances yet go, proper shelter will. One of the gi'catost curses of the camp at the present moment is the multitude of ilies. It is I'eally an Egyptian plague. la every tent and hut they swarm in myriads. From mosquitoes and fleas we are tolerably free; there are no bugs — at least, I have neither seen nor heard of any. Probabl}'^ bedsteads are not sufficiently numerous here to encourage the presence of those flat and foetid insects. We are duly grateful for the absence of such irritating vermin; and wo try to be resigned, but we certainly cannot be thankful, under the fly infliction. The Crimean fly is the most dai'ing and aggressive animal of its size that it has ever been my lot to encounter.
It befouls everything in your quarters, bites you, and will not be rebuffed. Its courage and activity constitute it the Zouave of the fly family. It dashes into your cup as you raise it to your lips, and defiles the morsel at the end of your fork. War with it is not to be thought of Kill a thousand, and you shall have a million in their stead. "Whatever food is exposed upon the table — sugar, meat, bread — becomes in an instant black with flies. The camp resounds with maledictions on the genus. A cargo of " ketch-'em-alive" papers, arriving just now at Balaklava, would find an instant sale at exorbitant prices. We should paper our huts and tents with them, and still despair of exterminating our tormentors.
Whilst on this unsavoury subject, I will mention complaints that have latelj' reached me, and which, in at least one instance, I know tx> be well founded. They refer to the condition of some of the transports taken up by Government for the conveyance of troops, horses, and stores to the Crimea. Considering the very high prices paid for such ships, it is not too much to expect that they should be kept clean, free from vermin, and as free as possible from evil smells. I may instance, as a case of which I have a positive knowledge, the "Cambria," a fine steamer of the Cunard line. She arrived at Balaklava from Portsmouth on Sunday last, after a passage which, notwithstanding that she lost a little time by running aground in the Bosphorus in broad daylight, was tolerably rapid.
She brought. in addition to her cargo, a few horses, and some small detachments of various regiments, under command of Captain Foster, of the 6th Dragoon Guards, and also about twenty officers, chiefl}'^ very young subalterns. Making every allowance for the presence of horses on board (fifty-two came here, and a fewhad been left at Scutari), but remembering also that she had uninterrupted fine weather during her passage, I do not hesitate to say that the state of this ship, when she arrived here, was disgraceful. The abominable stenches on board were such as I never encountered in any craft of her size, employment, and pretensions: in the cramped space allotted to the officers, bugs swarmed to such a degree that many of the young men, after vain attempts to cope with the odious enemy, were driven from their berths, and preferred a plank and a blanket upon deck to the stifling heat and detestable atmosphere of the cabin and the constant combat with the vermin.