alongside a creek
where a liquorice factory had been in the days of peace. The first
impression was desolating. The place looked like a bricklayer's yard. A
glance was sufficient to estimate it would take many long weeks before
it was completed for use. Several large iron-roofed sheds stood by the
water's edge. Gangs of Arabs were at work; strings of donkeys carrying
mud raised the dust in heavy clouds; carpenters in blue trousers
hammered and sawed; planks, bricks, barrels of concrete, and piles of
matting littered the ground: and upon all the vertical rays of the sun
beat down unmercifully. The creek was full of the _mahallas_ that had
brought up our equipment, and for the rest of that day our men toiled
and sweated over the crates and boxes, and bedsteads and bales of
blankets, singing in monotone a rhythmic refrain in imitation of the
native coolies when carrying loads. The native chants are simple.

Singer: "To-morrow we will eat rice and meat!"

Chorus: "May Allah grant it!"

Singer: "We are doing a great deal of work!"

Chorus: "May Allah reward us!"

* * * * *

The Tommies' refrain was more picturesque. Imagine six men carrying a
crate.

Singer: (Softly) "Is it 'ot?" (Pause.)

Chorus: "I don't think!"

Singer: (Fuller and staccato) "'Ot as 'ell?"

Chorus: "I don't think!" etc.

General Chorus: (repeatedly, with passion).

"Aller, Oller, Aller!
Oh, Aller, Oller, Aller!
Aller, Oller Oo!"

Bully beef came along in the afternoon, and we had landed with full
water-bottles, for drinking water was unavailable. Towards evening some
double-roofed tents were run up. The men settled down in the empty sheds
alongside the creek. We got to bed in a thunderstorm--a vivid zigzag
banging affair that circled round most of the night. The rain turned
the ground into something beyond description as regards its slippery
properties. Only a native donkey can keep footing in such ground. There
is no road metal available in Mesopotamia. It is a stoneless place. The
frogs trumpeted in chorus all night; packs of dogs or jackals swept
about in droves, once at full pelt through our tent, like devils of the
storm. It was nightmarish, but sleep brought that wonderful balancing
force that sometimes clothes itself in dreams, and steeps the spirit in
all that is lacking. Just before falling asleep I reflected that Adam
and Eve might well have been excused in such