With a Highland Regiment in Mesopotamia | Page 6

little to relieve the monotony of the flat
plain, save the colouring at dawn and dusk, and the appearance of a few
mahelas floating down stream with their broad sails outspread to catch
the north-west wind.
At Kurnah the Palm belt ceases and only at odd places and around
villages are trees again to be seen. One cannot fail to be struck with the
enormous possibilities the country offers for cultivation if only
properly irrigated. Thousands and thousands of acres 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