sufficient protection, but it was impossible for
the medical officers of the ships to obtain any extra canvas, and it
was thought that reed matting in close proximity to the funnels would be
dangerous. Tinned milk for bad cases and bully beef, stew, and bread and
jam for those fit to eat it were the main rations, but soup and eggs
were often available. The difficulties of catering for a crowded convoy,
with only a small galley, were considerable. Water was taken from the
river, and chlorinated in tanks on board.

On reaching Basra the convoys discharged their patients either at the
big British hospital, that was formerly the palace of a Sheik, and
stands on the river's edge, or at one or other of the Indian hospitals
that lie beside it. The accommodation for British troops was not great
at the time, so that it was the custom to transfer cases as soon as
possible into the hospital ships, which could come right alongside the
piers, and send them to India. Our hospital had four hundred beds
available within a short period. As a matter of fact, many more were
squeezed into odd places during times of pressure.

The appearance of the sick and wounded defies description. Like the
Gallipoli lot, only worse, they were lean, gaunt, haggard skeletons,
hollow-eyed, with rivulets of perspiration furrowing the dirt of their
faces. Looking back from a better state of affairs to those days, the
strange spectres that staggered off the boat become softened in outline.
It is only by the aid of pen, pencil, brush or film that their grimness
is kept alive in the mind.

They cheered up considerably after a day or two, and when it came to
censoring their letters, not a word of complaint did one find; nor, for
that matter, any news. The absence of nurses was a disappointment for
them, but the luxury of a spring mattress, of cool water in quantity,
and of being under a roof out of the sun made up for that in some
degree. They were full of rumours. Of the general situation they knew
nothing. One said we had half a million men in the field. Another
reckoned we had a division or two at the most. Many seemed to put the
figure at six divisions. A British division is about eighteen thousand
men, and an Indian division less. They were sure that Kut would be
relieved. It was at the time when the news was looked for daily. The
whole place was rich in tales. Every depot on shore, and every ship in
the stream, had its stories. Kut was to be occupied by