LIFE IN MESOPOTAMIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 258, 28 October 1916, Page 15

LIFE IN MESOPOTAMIA.

DESEBT WAR IN IUDSTjaiIIEB. /

An informative, letter from, a' sapper wltb the Indian expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia bas been received at the " Dally Chronicle " office. It says:—

" Out here from about nine until-fire it Iβ absolutely baking. I bare sot felt a drop of rain since leaving England, and for the l»Kt four weeka have not seen a ctoud —Just a bluey-whitleb sky with a Mating ball of tire day after day. I was climbing on to a cart the other'day, and untUiultoglj put -my hand on an iron rail. Result, a blistered hand.

" At the camp where I am *tajing 'the date palms extend for about a mil* from the river; beyond that there it nothing but salt desert, with, a very occasional oasis. The palms are planted in rom with artificially made creek* running up between i each row.

■■ Tbere must be millions of trees; «ome ore 4ort high; others a> low that yon cam reach the fruit. Dates seem very plentiful this year; they just begin to show signs - of ripening. No other kind of tree seems to grow here with the exception- of an occasional pomegranate—and that is moie of a busb.

"I am at present 'doing my bit , by sen-ing lukewarm drinks to. thirsty. troops, in the rauteen we have opened. We get rid of about 100 dosen bottles'of minerals a day, every bottle opened ami, poured out at the counter. ■ We sell the minerals at 14d a bottle, but the common-or-garden £*nfjer-beer bottle, empty, with the marble stopper in it, U worth 6d here. That is the reason we pour the contents out.

" The food we get is not bad, bat very monotonous. Breakfast about « (bacon, tea and bread), lunch at 12 (bread and Jtm), tea at 4 (nothing to eat with it), a.ad stew and vegetables at 7.

" One can supplement these rations from the canteens if the easli to available, and can buy eggs from the virions Arab ' villages ' round abont. An Arab • village • seems to consist of about a score of maduuta, various smells, numerous wooUyheaded kiddles clamouring for ' baksheesh ' accl dogs. '

Thl"V v'? bt .'* is n P erfect pandemonium. The jackals start the Arab dogs. The bullfrogs rise up in their thousands, and 'do their bit. . The crickets most number millions, and the mosquitoes ditto.

"Still, we keep smiling, and whatever happens, always try to flnd the 'silver Mnlur.' "