e whole Battalion in the mounting of the guard, and
the smartness of the guard increased by leaps and bounds. The heat, of
course, found its victims and in spite of all precautions there was a
fair amount of sickness during the summer; it was impossible to avoid
it. Great care was taken to see that all drinking water was properly
chlorinated, and special waterproof tanks were erected on the river
banks. If anyone went sick they were almost immediately sent to the
Field Hospital where they got every possible attention. All through
the summer the Battalion was very much below strength and the work
fell heavily on those remaining.

[Illustration: Views In Zobeir. The site of Ancient Basrah, the home
of Sinbad the Sailor.]

[Illustration: The President, Regimental Institutes.]

[Illustration: Captain T. W. STEWART.]

It was decided to hold "Highland Sports" on Wednesday, August 30th,
and a number of other units, both British and Indian, were asked to
take part. A suitable piece of ground was chosen some five miles
behind the firing line, and on the day a great concourse of people
assembled. The Corps Commander honoured the Regiment and several
Generals from other Brigades were also present, our own Brigadier
being an interested spectator. The events were keenly contested and
the honours were fairly evenly divided. We won the Highland Dancing
with a very fine exhibition. Another Highland unit carried off the
board jump with a record leap. The officers "Donkey Fight", a scrap
"Five aside" between our officers and those of another Highland unit
caused huge delight and amusement and before many moments blood was
flowing freely. The mile race by the Indian Regiments drew a big crowd
and a large number of entries and a great race was won by the
Punjabis. The inter-company cross country run was a keen contest. 13
men were chosen from each company, with one officer in charge and an
N. C. O. They had to run in full kit and packs also carrying rifles
and a severe course of training was gone through. P. P. B. Miller
Stirling commanded one company, the brothers Smythe (South Africans
and both keen sportsmen) each commanded other companies. I forget who
commanded the fourth company. The average time was under ten minutes
over a two-mile course, and the remarkable thing showing the
uniformity of training was that there was scarcely two minutes'
difference in time between any company. But the event of the day was
the 'tug-of-war' bet