We officers live in two of the houses, the third is Orderly Room, etc., and the fourth is used by some Native Regiment Officers.  There is no furniture whatever, so it is like camping with a house for a tent.  We sleep on the roof and live on the verandahs of the little inner courts.  It is decidedly cooler than Basra, and last night I wanted a blanket before dawn for the first time since April (excluding the Hills, of course).  In my room now (2.45 p.m.) it is 96 deg. but there is plenty of breeze about.

It seems to be just a chance when the mail goes out:  I hope to write to Papa later on in the week and give him the news of this place and the regiment.  If I spell names of places without a capital letter it will be for an obvious reason.  Also note that the place which is marked on the map Kut-al-Amara is always referred to here as Kut.

P.S.—­In regard to what you say about the ducks, I’m told that teal are common in Turkey and snipe in Arabia, but not so common as mallard in England or pintail in India.  The bitterns here boom just like guns.

* * * * *

ATT. 1/4 HANTS,
I.E.F.  “D,”
C/o INDIA OFFICE, S.W.

AMARAH, September 4th,1915.

To R.K.

Yours from Albemarle Street reached me just before we left Basra.  It gave me the first news of Charles Lister’s second wound.  We get almost no news here.  Potted Reuter is circulated most days, but each unit may only keep it half an hour, so its two to one against one’s seeing it.  My only resource is the Times which laboriously dogs my steps from England:  but it has already been pinched en route four times, so I can’t rely on seeing even that:  therefore in the matter of casualties, please be as informative as you can, regardless of originality.

As I told you in my last letter that I was going to Nasiriyah, it won’t surprise you to find I’ve got here instead.  We reached Basra (it would be much nicer to spell it Bassorah, but I can’t be bothered to) on the feast of St. Bartholomew, which the Military call 24/8/15.  Considering what places are like out here, B. is wonderfully attractive and picturesque.  At least Ashar is, which is the port; Beroea:  Corinth::  Ashar:  Basra.  To begin with it stands between six and eight feet above the river level, an almost unique eminence.  Then lots of major and minor creeks branch out from the river and from the main streets.  All round and in every unbuilt on space are endless groves of date palms, with masses of yellow dates.  The creeks are embanked with brick and lined with popular cafe’s where incredible numbers of Arabs squat and eat or drink huggas and hacshish and the like.  The creeks and river swarm with bhellums and mahilas.  A bhellum is a cross between a gondola and a Canada canoe:  and a mahila is a barge like the ones used by King Arthur, Elaine or the Lady of Shallott:  and its course and destination are generally equally vague.