ASIAN NIGHTS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 829, 6 October 1916, Page 11

ASIAN NIGHTS.

AND BURNING DAYS

WAR IN THE DESERT.

Where the feathery palm trees rise, And the dates gl'OW ripe under sunny skies. A very informative letter from a sapper with the Indian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia was recently received by the "Daily Chronicle." "It makes .me smile to read your complaint about London being 'swelteringly hot.' You don't know, and cannot conceive, how hot the sun can strike. Out here from about 9 until 5 it is absolutely baking. I have not felt a drop of rain since leaving England, and for the last four weeks have not seen a cloud—just a blueywhilish sky with a blazing ball of fire day after day. I was climbing on to a cart the other day, and un* thinkingly put my hand on an iron rail. Result, a blistered hand. Such Quantities of Sand.

"You are right about this country being 'dreary'; one or two adjectives before that would not adequately describe it.

"At the camp where I am staying the date palms extend for about a mile from the river; beyond that there is nothing but salt desert, with a very occasional oasis. Thepalmsare planted, in rows with artificially made creeks running up between each row.

"There must be millions of trees; some are 40ft high; others so low that you can reach the fruit. Dales 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 more of a bush.

"We are up lo dale here with a camp library. What do you think of that? It comprises about 200 books," mostly 7d editions, but quite a godsend here, I can assure you.- I managed lo gel Iwo of W. J. Locke's last week, and I am now reading one of H. A. Vac-hell's. "Sixpence on the Bottle." "I am al present 'doing my hit' by serving out lukewarm drinks to thirsty troops in the canteen we have opened. We get rid of about 100 dozen bottles of minerals a day, every bottle opened and poured out at the counter. We sell the minerals at lid a bottle, but the common-or-garden ginger-beer bottle, empty, with the marble stopper in it, is worth Gd here. That is the reason we pour the contents out. "The food we get is not bad, but very monotonous. Breakfast about G (bacon, lea and bread), lunch al 12 (bread and jam), lea at 1 (nothing In cat with it), and slew and vegetables al 7.

"One can supplement these rations from the canteens if the cash is available, and can buy eggs from the various Arab 'villages' round about. An Arab 'village' seems to consist of about a score of mud huts, various smells, numerous woollv-headed kiddies clamouring for 'baksheesh,' and dogs.

"At night it is a perfect pandemonium. The jackals start the Arab dogs. The bull frogs rise up in their thousands and 'do their bit.' The crickets must number millions, and the mosquitoes ditto.

"Still, we keep smiling, and whatver hnnpens, always try to find the ilver lining."