The horse stable within the fort has been built in a bad place, and is very close and unhealthy; so that the animals die one after another. It would therefore be better if the stable referred to under the heading of "fortification" and situated outside the fort be used. If this is done it must be provided with the necessary cribs, &c., and not more than seven horses have been allowed by the last regulation. The supervision of the stable has been entrusted for some time to the Captain Jan van der Bruggen, but I could not approve of this, and consider it better that this supervision be also left to the chief person in authority, the more so as the said Captain has been troubled for the last five years with gout and gravel; so that he has often to remain at home for weeks, while, even when he is well, it is impossible for him to go about much, in consequence of weakness arising from the pain. For this reason he cannot properly supervise the stable; and this is not the first time he is excused from his duty, as it was done also during the time of Commandeur Cornelis van der Duyn, who also considered that it was more in the interest of the Company that this and other duties should be performed by the chief instead of by private persons. The Dessave is best aware if the hides of the stags and elks sent to this stable from the Wanny and the Passes are properly utilized for saddles, carriages, &c., in the said stable, and also in the Arsenal for cartridge cases, bandoleers, sword-belts, &c.[58]
The hospital was built too low, so that the patients had to lie in damp places during the northern monsoon. I therefore had the floor raised, in view of the fact that this is a place where the Company shows its sympathy with its suffering servants and wishes them to have every comfort. For this reason also regents are appointed to see that nothing wrong is done by the doctor or the steward. For some time this supervision was entrusted to Captain Jan van der Bruggen, but for the reason stated above I cannot approve of the arrangement any longer, while moreover, his daughter is the wife of the Chief Surgeon Hendrick Warnar, who has a very large family, and suspicious people might try to find fault with the arrangement. The supervision of the hospital must therefore be entrusted every alternate month to the Administrateur Biermans and the Lieutenant Claas Isaacsz, as it is against the principles of the Company to entrust such work to one person only.[59]