et my thermometer, an hour or so later, he was normal. There was no
M.O. on board, except a grotesque fat old Turk physician to the
Turkish prisoners, whose diagnosis was in Arabic and whose sole idea
of treatment was to continue feeling the patient's pulse (which he did
by holding his left foot) till we made him stop.

The other two were gradual cases and being watered and iced in time
never became delirious; so we may get off without any permanent
casualties; but they have taken a most useful corporal and one private
to hospital, which almost certainly means leaving them behind on
Sunday.

The other men were all pretty tired out and I think it does credit to
their constitutions they stood it so well.

I, having my private spine-pad and glasses, was comparatively
comfortable, also I had had breakfast and didn't have to shift kits or
even my own luggage. I don't dislike even extreme heat nearly as much
as quite moderate cold.

I gather it doesn't get so cold here as I thought. 37 deg. is the lowest
temperature I've heard vouched for.

I haven't time nowadays to write many letters, so I'm afraid you must
ask kind aunts, etc., to be content with parts of this; I hope
_they'll_ go on writing to _me_ though.

* * * * *

"P.S.S. KARA DEUIZ,"
BASRA,

To N.B.
_August 29, 1915._

I hope you will be indulgent if I write less regularly now: and by
indulgent I mean that you will go on writing to me, as I do enjoy your
letters so much. I expect I shall have slack times when there will be
plenty of leisure to write: but at others we are likely to be busy,
and you never can be sure of having the necessary facilities. And
personally I find my epistolary faculties collapse at about 100 deg. in
the shade. I wrote quite happily this morning till it got hot; and
only now (4.45) have I found it possible to resume. We get it 102 to
104 deg. every day from about noon to four, and it oppresses one much more
than at Agra as there is no escaping from it and flies are plentiful:
but about now a nice breeze springs up, and the evenings are fairly
pleasant. I thought we were leaving for Amarah to-day, so I told Mama
my letter to her would have to do all-round duty, which is mean, I
admit, but I had no day off till to-day.

Not that I've been really busy, but I've been out a lot, partly
getting things and partly seeing the place.

I've just heard I must go ashore with another sick man immediately
af