e went very slow, and did not
get in till 1.30 and our transport not till nearly 3, heavy guns
sticking in the ditches. (N.B. Once we got behind the evacuated
Turkish line, we found that the ditches had been filled in to allow
passage of guns, an expedient which had apparently not occurred to the
British Command, for no ditch had been filled in between B, and this
point!)

_Tuesday._ When morning came we found ourselves camped just opposite
D. (11 on sketch), and we are still there. Two fine days (though it
freezes at night) and rest have restored us. A mail arrived this
morning, bringing letters to December 7th, and your medical parcels.

I only returned you the quinine and bandages, of which people in Amara
have plenty. They will come in handy for you to send out again. _Here_
everything medical can be used, but I couldn't have brought any more
than I did. As it is, I've left a lot at Amarah.

I must close now. On these cold nights the little kitchener is
invaluable, so is the soup. Of the various brands you sent, Ivelcon is
the best. The chocolate is my mainstay on day marches. Also the Diet
Tablets are very good. Bivouac Cocoa is also good. The Kaross is
invaluable.

Stanford's Map has arrived.

* * * * *

ON THE E. CANAL.

_Saturday, January 15th_, 1916.

TO HIS MOTHER.

I will continue my account of our doings in diary form. Last week we
had a kind of general introduction to war. The last few days we have
seen a few of its more gruesome details.

_12th, Wednesday._ After posting your letter and one to Luly I read
some of the Mail's papers. We have had absolutely no outside news
since January 1st, and get very little even of the operations of our
own force. I then went to see Foster who has had to go sick and lives
on our supply ship. About 20 per cent. of our men are sick, mostly
diarrhoea and sore feet. The former is no doubt due to Tigris water.
They don't carry the chlorinating plant on trek, and men often have to
replenish water-bottles during short halts. Personally I have so far
avoided unboiled water. I have my bottle filled with tea before
leaving camp, and can make that last me forty-eight hours, and eke it
out with soup or cocoa in the Little Kitchener at bivouacs.

In the evening "D." Company had to find a firing party to shoot three
Indians, two N.C.Os. and one sepoy, for cowardice in the face of the
enemy. I'm thankful that North and not I was detailed f