e English mail was due and had arrived
with letters and papers great was the excitement. Our letters took
about six weeks from England to the firing line, but we were allowed
to send week-end cables at a very reduced rate, something like 6_d._ a
word, and could send them off actually from the trenches on their long
journey half across the world. The food, taking everything into
consideration, was good, although of necessity it had to greatly
consist of tinned and dried varieties and we suffered somewhat from
lack of fresh vegetables. Later an improvement in this respect was
effected.

[Illustration: Scenes In The Trenches At San-i-yat.]

[Illustration: The Filters.]

[Illustration: Captain MACQUEEN, R.A.M.C., And His Aid Post.]

[Illustration: Indian Water Carriers At San-i-yat.]

A flag of truce was always an interesting event. A white flag would be
prominently displayed by one side above the trench and kept there till
the other side responded and also hoisted a flag, and two or three
officers would go out from either side meeting in the middle of "No
Man's Land" where the business was discussed. Sometimes it would be
simply handing over a letter or letters; other times the business
would take longer. A truce of some hours' duration would sometimes be
arranged. The longest I remember was for 24 hours when we exchanged
sick prisoners; but there was no fraternizing; we might sit on the
parapet of our trench and the Turk would do the same; but there was no
attempt made to be friendly; the Turk knew and so did we that within a
few short months we would be at death grips with each other and that
one side or the other would be driven out of the present strong
positions we had taken up; but whichever side won, the losses of both
would be great and so we sat and looked at each other during those
short respites, and both sides adhered strictly to the truce. When it
expired it was not safe to show even a helmet over the parapet. The
Colonel told me that several times the same Turkish officer brought
the flag of truce. He spoke French easily and said he had been
fighting more or less continuously the last eight years--in the Iraq
against Arabs, in Tripoli against the Italians, in Gallipoli, and now
on the Tigris against the British. He had been wounded four times, and
was again wounded and taken prisoner by us during the advance, 1917.
In 1916 we were fighting a foe, elated by his success at Kut, and it
was only after our v