END OF VOLUME IV.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Wild and mountainous country of the Balkans to the west of Serbia, with its coast on the Adriatic Sea.
[2] Sphagnum or bog moss occurs in large patches of a pale green or reddish colour on moors, and sometimes fills up small lakes or pools. The growth of bog moss has played a large part in the formation of peat. There are many varieties of bog moss, and some of them have now been put to practical use in our field hospitals.
The story of the discovery of the properties of the moss is interesting. One day in a peat moss litter works some distance from Kiel a worker met with a serious injury. There were no appliances to deal with the case at the works, but the men did the best they could. They took a quantity of the article which they manufactured, peat moss litter, and laying it on the wounds tied bandages over it. The injured man was then conveyed to Kiel, and taken to a hospital. When the doctors undid the bandages, and found the dirty-looking moss litter in the wound, they were horrified, and declared that the injured limb would have to be cut off. Very soon, however, their horror gave way to surprise, and they said, "Ah, here is something which we do not know about!" They found that, far from the poisoning which they had expected, the injury had been beautifully cleaned by the rude dressing, and had actually begun to heal. With German thoroughness, they made further experiments, and so "discovered" sphagnum moss from the surgeon's point of view.
[3] To change from one tack to the other without going about; to shift a fore-and-aft sail from one side to the other when the wind is aft or on the quarter.
[4] A nautical measure = 6 ft.
[5] Plural of fellah, an Egyptian or Syrian peasant.
[7] See Vol. II., p. 237.
[8] Ku´fee.
[9] Croo´ee.
[10] Unnamed hills are numbered on the map by their height above sea-level. Thus Hill 132 means a hill which is 132 metres, or 440 ft., in elevation.
[11] Sant meh-nou´.
[12] Soo-ahn.
[13] Pert.
[14] Boh say-joor.
[15] See Vol. II., chap. ix.
[16] Lays-ay parge.
[17] Tee-ō-koor.
[18] The narrowest part of the Dardanelles, 14 miles from the Mediterranean. The width of the strait at the Narrows is about three-quarters of a mile.
[19] For an account of the Narrows, see Chapter XX.
[20] Blackwood's Magazine, October 1915.
[21] Pshas´nish.
[22] Boo-ko-vē´na.
[23] Stan´is-low, 75 m. S.S.E. of Lemberg. It has extensive railroad shops.
[24] Vol. III., p. 247.
[25] Moo´ziks, Russian peasants.
[26] The Russian Campaign, April to August, 1915, by Stanley Washburn.
[27] Pee-aitr.
[28] The Thunderer; the blacksmith god of the ancient Norse. He is represented as wielding a hammer.
[29] The French word for a keepsake.
[30] Some of the earliest hand grenades used by our men were made of jam pots which came from the factory of Messrs. Tickler; hence the nickname.
[31] During 1915 Russia was busy developing the ice-free port of Alexandrovsk, at the mouth of the river Kola, but it was not available at the close of the year.
[32] King of ancient Persia from 485 to 465 B.C. He crossed the "Narrows" with a vast army in 481 B.C.
[33] King of Macedonia from 336 to 323 B.C. He conquered all Western Asia, and even the north of India. As a soldier few of the great generals of history can compare with him.
[34] Aviation ground with hangars or sheds in which aeroplanes are stored.
[35] German for "God punish England"—the common curse of the Germans at that time.
[36] Military cyclists are known at the front as Gaspipe Cavalry.
[37] Native captain in the Indian army.
[38] Loce, about a mile to the north-west of Lens.
[39] According to the old classical story, there was in Crete a building constructed for King Minos, in which dwelt the terrible beast known as the Minotaur. This building, which was known as the Labyrinth, contained many winding passages, arranged in such a fashion that a way out was most difficult to find.
[40] See Vol. III., p. 61.
[41] See Chap. XXX.
[42] City and district of the Punjab ("land of five rivers"), North-West India.
[43] Born 1853. He had for forty years served with distinction in every British war, and had been present with the Japanese in Manchuria. He was an excellent writer and something of a poet. Since 1910 he had been Inspector of Oversea Forces.
[44] In the Turkish island of Lemnos, one of the largest islands in the Ægean Sea. It is about sixty miles as the aeroplane flies from Gaba Tepe.
[45] Made up of the initial letters of the words—Australian New Zealand Army Corps.
[46] On the night of September 12-13, 1759, General Wolfe's army of 4,000 men climbed a wooded precipice on hands and knees, and next day defeated a French army on the plateau (Heights of Abraham) to the south-west of Quebec. This victory gave us Canada.
[47] Blackwood's Magazine, February 1916.
[48] Refer to map on p. [168].
[49] Quinn's Post lay at the head of Shrapnel Valley, the Valley of Death referred to on page [273]. Pope's Hill lay to the left front of Quinn's Post, and Courtney's Post was on the right of Quinn's Post.
[53] Pan-dō´ra. In ancient Greek story, a goddess who possessed a box containing every kind of ill; this was opened, and the ills escaped and spread all over the earth, Hope alone being left at the bottom of the box.
[54] For these railway lines, and other places mentioned in this chapter, see map, p. [311].
[55] Or Kurland, Baltic province of Russia between the Gulf of Riga on the north and the province of Kovno on the south. It has many small, scattered lakes, and almost one-third of the surface is covered with forest.
[56] Sacred pictures found in all Russian churches and houses.
[57] Shō-pan´. Frédéric François Chopin (1809-49), great Polish musical composer and the finest pianist of his time. No man has ever excelled him in writing music for the piano.
[58] Equivalent to our second lieutenant.
[59] In 1707, when Charles XII. of Sweden invaded Russia and bade fair to overrun the country, Peter the Great put himself at the head of his army, and on July 5, 1709, inflicted a great defeat on the Swedes and drove them out of the country.
[60] In 1812, when Napoleon invaded Russia and marched to Moscow (see Vol. I., p. 64), Alexander I. placed himself at the head of the army, and by wasting the country forced Napoleon to retreat.
[61] See chap. xxxi.
[62] South Tirol, on the north-east frontier land of Italy; part of Austria, but inhabited chiefly by Italian-speaking people, and therefore claimed by Italy, which also claims the coast-lands round the head of the Adriatic Sea.
[63] River rising at the junction of the Julian and Carnic Alps and flowing southwards in a winding course to the Gulf of Trieste. Its length is about seventy-five miles, of which but little is navigable.
[64] Austrian territory along the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea.
[65] Louis Botha, born 1863, commanded Boer forces during the South African War; became first prime minister of the Union of South Africa (1910); and in 1914 was appointed commander-in-chief of the Union defence forces.
[66] For an account of German South-West Africa, see Vol. III., p. 177.
[67] Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar, Act IV., Sc. iii.
[68] As the safety pins were not withdrawn, they did not explode.
[69] In 451, when Attila, the King of the Huns, was overthrown; in 1430, when the English hold on France was shaken by the victorious progress of Joan of Arc from Orleans to Rheims; and in 1792, at Valmy, where the Prussians were beaten and the young republic of France was saved.
[70] Mr. E. A. Powell in Vive la France.
[71] "Forward! Conquer or die!"
[72] French officer who crossed Africa from the Atlantic coast to the White Nile in 1898 and claimed Fashoda for the French. He was met by Lord (then Sir Herbert) Kitchener, who said to him, "I congratulate you on all you have accomplished." "No," replied Major Marchand, pointing to his troops, "it is not I but these soldiers who have done it." Kitchener surrounded Marchand's forces and ordered him to withdraw his troops or to haul down his flag. For a moment there was a chance of war between Britain and France, but the French Government decided to withdraw the troops, and the incident ended with an acknowledgment of our right to the Nile valley.
[73] French word for rising ground, knoll.
[74] Mass-seige.
[75] Krass-e-a.
[76] Haine.
[77] Killed by a chance bullet on October 24, 1915.
[78] See Vol. III., page 74.
[79] Gree-nay´, French cape fronting the Strait of Dover.
[80] Sa-lo-nēka, port of Greece on the gulf of the same name, 12 miles to the east of the mouth of the river Vardar. After Constantinople it is the chief port of what was formerly European Turkey. The harbour is safe and roomy, and before the war the town had a population of over 160,000. Salonika is the Thessalonica of the New Testament.
[81] Ve-leze.