We left Basra on the 30th. It took us two-and-a-half days to do the
130 miles up here, against a strong wind and current. The Regiment has
moved here from Nasiriyah. This place is 130 miles North of Basra and
120 South of Kut-el-Amarah (always known as Kut). As to our movements,
the only kind of information I can give you would be something like
this. There are fifteen thousand blanks, according to trustworthy
reports, at blank. We have blank brigades and our troops are blanking
at blank which is two-thirds of the way from here to blank; and I
think our intention is to blank with all our three blanks as soon as
possible, but this blank is remaining on lines of communications here
for the present. Not very interesting is it? So I won't reel off any
more.

From the little scraps of news that have come through, it looks as if
the Balkans were going to be the centre of excitement. If Bulgaria has
agreed to let the Germans through as I suspect she has, I'd bet on
both Greece and Roumania joining the Allies.

* * * * *

AMARAH.

_September 4th_, 1915.

TO HIS FATHER.

We get hardly any news up here, so please kindly continue your
function of war correspondent whenever you have time, and especially
mention any casualties which affect me.

One of the few bits of news which have reached us is a report of a
speech of yours in which you mention that Milner's Committee
recommended the Government to guarantee 45s. a year for four years,
but the Government wouldn't. Reuter deduces from this that we have
found a way of keeping the whip hand of submarines: but it looks to me
much more like Free Trade shibboleths + the fact that there has
already been a 30% increase in the area under wheat. I hope you will
have written me something about this.

Now for the military news. This battalion, when we arrived here, was
nominally nearly 300 strong, but actually it could hardly have paraded
100. This reduction is nearly all due to sickness. The deaths from all
causes only total between forty and fifty, out of the original 800:
and of these about twenty-five, I think, were killed in action. But
there has been an enormous amount of sickness during the hot weather,
four-fifths of which has been heat-stroke and malaria. There have been
a few cases of enteric and a certain number of dysentery; but next to
heat and malaria more men have been knocked out by sores and boils
than by any disease. It takes ag