With a Highland Regiment in Mesopotamia | Page 6

of the best of soil, and everywhere as flat as Salisbury Plain.
We now begin to see small Arab villages along the banks of the river; they look dirty and dilapidated. The Arabs look filthy, but some have very pleasant faces, and both men and women impress one with their strength. This campaign is of course not only an eye-opener to them but also a God-send. They beg and steal on every possible occasion and on going through the narrows a lot of amusement is obtained in bargaining with them. The troops crowd on to the barges, as they bump along the sides of the river banks which are only two or three feet higher than the barge, and buy from the Arab women and children running along the banks selling eggs and fowls; as the demand has risen the prices have also advanced, and whereas at the opening of the campaign one could buy a dozen eggs for fourpence, by January 1917, I have seen officers pay twopence each or more. It is scarcely safe to jump ashore, as any moment the boat may launch out again into the middle of the stream, but when tied up by the bank waiting for another boat to pass brisk business can be carried on. The boats going up usually give way to those coming down, as the ones coming down may have wounded and sick, and all must be done to get them down to hospital as soon as possible, and so the time passes. At one end of the Narrows is Ezra's Tomb, a building surmounted by a blue tiled dome, which is evidently of no very ancient origin. We were informed that the edifice had been erected in memory of Ezra by a wealthy Jew, and that the place had become a sort of place of pilgrimage. Clustering round it is a small Arab hamlet with the usual sprinkling of Palm trees, and an abundance of dirt and filth, without which surely the Arab could not exist.
[Illustration: The Officers Mess, Falahiyah, The Adjutant, Captain N. M. RITCHIE, D.S.O., Studies Military Law.]
[Illustration: J. M. COWIE, T. HENDERSON, A. A. YOUNG (Killed), G. V. STEWART, T. GILLESPIE (Killed).]
[Illustration: J. M. COWIE, G. V. STEWART, T. HENDERSON, J. H. COTTERELL (Killed), H. W. BRUCE (Killed).]
[Illustration: At The Bar.]
[Illustration: River Scenes.]
At the northern end of the Narrows is the village of Qalat Sahib with its minarets and lovely reflections. Then, Amara is sighted. We are now one hundred and twenty miles from our base and this place makes a kind of a half-way house between Basrah and Baghdad, and for the first time the battalion lands in Mesopotamia. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon that the order to disembark was received. Wonder was expressed at the command as everyone knew that this was still a long way behind the firing line, and was it the intention to march the rest of the distance, and if so, why? as we were so much needed. All these queries and doubts however were soon put an end to when it became known that the Colonel had decided to land and practice an attack. He knew that at any moment his Regiment might be thrown into action, and as the long journey was found to have a stiffening effect on one's limbs he decided on some small practice manoeuvres before the actual and real thing took place.
What a pleasure to get on shore again! At such a moment a regiment is almost like a boy's school let out after hours; everyone was in high fettle and pleased, our long journey was nearing its end, and very soon we would be relieving General Townshend who had been locked up in Kut since December 5th.
By three o'clock all were ashore and an attack on an imaginary enemy was practised, and of course victory achieved; but on returning to the river, it was found that the boats had moved up a mile or so, and tired and weary the Regiment had to go in search of them, and to add to the discomfort the rain started to come down, so that by the time everyone was on board again at seven-thirty it was dark and the men were wet, and a very subdued regiment ate their evening meal in comparison to the high spirits of earlier in the afternoon. However, very soon it would be good-bye to the boats for good, as it was expected that the following day we should land at Ali-el-Gharbi.
CHAPTER III.
The 2nd Battalion disembarked at Ali-el-Gharbi, one hundred and eighty miles from Basrah. The ground was little better than a bog from the rain of the previous day; with very little rain the whole countryside seems to become a quagmire. The mud is about the