Finally, about the 25th
of July, small amounts of soft bread began to be doled out, and an
occasional issue of frozen fresh beef was made. It was soon
demonstrated that not sufficient fresh beef could be made available.
The vegetables which had been brought had nearly all spoiled on the
transports. Hundreds of barrels of potatoes and onions were unloaded
upon the docks and were so badly decayed as to make them useless.
These vegetables had been drifting about the Caribbean Sea and upon
the Atlantic Ocean since the 9th and 10th of June. Occasionally it was
practicable to get a quarter or a half ration of potatoes and half of
the usual allowance of canned tomatoes, but that was all.
It did not require a professor of hygienic dietetics to predict that
men fed in the tropics upon a diet suited to the icy shores of
Greenland would become ill, especially when they were clad in a manner
suited to the climate of Labrador. Are we to conclude that it was
impossible to get rice, beans, canned fruits, canned corn, and other
vegetables to take the place of potatoes and onions?
[Illustration: Cuban Residence.]
Third--Lack of Shelter.
The allowance of tentage was prescribed for each regiment.
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