And now the land which sent its Wise Men to the West is looking towards the West again for aid.  If its ancient prosperity is to be restored, if Chaldea is again to be a granary to the world, it is to the West that it must turn.  Science and machinery shall again make the waste places to be inhabited and the desert blossom as the rose.  Thus shall the wise men return to them—­the Wise Men of the West.  In every important agricultural centre are to be found irrigation officers—­the first-fruits of British occupation.

There was only one subject of conversation in Mesopotamia in the winter of 1918-1919, and that was the chances of getting back home.  There was very little to do at Basra except watch steamers load up with the more fortunate candidates for demobilization and give them a send-off.  Brown had no difficulty in getting three weeks’ leave to accompany me in some of my expeditions to gather up such fragments as remained of naval subjects on the rivers.  We determined on a voyage of discovery up the Euphrates in search of the famous “fly-boats” which had figured so vividly in the early days of naval river fighting, and which now were more or less peacefully employed.  I had to make many sketches of them for further use, and succeeded in finding a whole “bag” at Dhibban.

[Illustration:  A MAHAILA OF THE INLAND WATER TRANSPORT]

We embarked in an ancient-looking stern paddler named Shushan.  As we had to camp out in a somewhat rough-and-ready way, with not a little discomfort owing to a spell of very cold weather, Brown insisted on referring to her as Shushan the Palace.

She had a tall funnel, like the tug in Turner’s Fighting Temeraire, and kicked up a tremendous wash with her paddle, the whole effect being faintly reminiscent of a hay-making machine.  She pushed her way along, slightly “down by the head,” as if she had suddenly thought of something and was putting on a spurt to make up for lost time.  I cannot lay hands on a sketch of her, but the one reproduced at the head of this chapter will give some idea of her character.  Take away one funnel and place it amid-ships, reduce her tonnage a little, and you have the Shushan to the life.

This gallant little curiosity is no late conscripted product of the war.  She is one of the pukka ships of the Navy in Mesopotamia—­one of the Old Contemptibles.  Armed with a three-pounder which caused such havoc to her decks when fired that it is reported the ship had to be turned round after each round.  Two shots in succession in the same direction would have wrecked the vessel.

A host of amusing stories of her exploits were told us by her C.O., who was an R.N.V.R.  Lieutenant.  Some practical joker produced a cylinder alleged to be in cuneiform writing.  A translation of the inscription proved beyond doubt that the Shushan was used by Nebuchadnezzar as a royal yacht, and is the last surviving link with the Babylonian navy.