INDIAN SOLDIERS AS PATIENTS.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13729, 18 March 1915, Page 3

INDIAN SOLDIERS AS PATIENTS.

Excellent work is being done at Netley Red Cross Hut Hospital for wounded British soldiers. Nurse Ethel Nazer tells a touching story of a blind Gurkha, who is the life and -, soul of one of the hut wards. "My twenty beds," she says, "are filled mostly with Sikhs, Gurkhas, and Garwhal Hindus, some of them having six or eight wounds. It is terrible to see men so dreadfully maimed and mangled. All the wounds on arrival, are very septic, but it is wonderful how quickly they clean up with regular dressing and attention. "A very special patient of mine is a little Gurkha who has lost the sight of both eyes from shrapnel wounds. In spite of his blindness he is the life of the ward. Sometimes he imitates the wounded Germans, or at other times he will go through the actions of an encounter in the trenches. The last is most realistic. One can well imagine the Gurkhas creeping up to get at the enemy. The other evening, when I came back from tea, I found the patients in roars of laughter. Gundar Singh was out of bed performing a 'pay day' to the other men, I ordered him back to bed, and he im-

mediately stood to attention and saluted: 'Salaam, Sister Sahib! Pay Sister Sahib 500 rupees; Sister Sahib very good!' How could I be angry with him? I had to laugh with the rest of them.

"One' gets very foud of the Gurkha and the Garwhal. There is never a complaint or murmur from them, and their faith in all the doctors and sisters is quite touching. The most trying ordeal to them is when they are X-rayed. Sometimes I wonder if they think we are casting a spell over them, for they often come back counting their fingers and feeling their limbs. "At first it was difficult to keep order in the ward, especially with the Mohammedans, but they soon settled down ,and make really excellent and very grateful patients. They are more like a lot of little children to deal with —very fond of sweets and cigarettes, and awfully jealous if they think one man is getting more than another. If you give one patient medicine or a hot drink, they all want the same, and will generally manage to find a pain somewhere !

"The- Gurkhas are such quiet, brave little men, very like the Japanese in appearance, and the Sikhs and Garwhal Hindus are fine, handsome fellows. All the Indians have magnificent teeth, which they clean regularly after eating. In fact in personal cleanliness they are far ahead of the average English working man. But oh, the messes they make with their washing and meals! They like plenty pani' (water), and an orderly has always to go ruond with a mop after their morning and evening toilet."