ARABS ENJOY AN AL FRESCO MEAL OF DATES.
THE SHEIK OF ZOBEIR AND HIS SON.
ARAB BAZAAR.
The men crowded on to the barges attached to the side of the paddle boats and of course everything was of interest, everything was new in this, the oldest country in the world. Because Kurnah at the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates has the reputation of being the site of the Garden of Eden, many and various are the jokes which have been made against this most unfortunate of places by members of the Expeditionary Force, but all amount to the one thing—that Adam and Eve had very little to lose in being driven out, if it is unchanged since those days.
The belt of Palm trees which so attracted our attention along the banks from the mouth of the Gulf to Basrah still continues, but they are thinning down very considerably and by the time Kurnah is reached the belt has no depth at all. There is no question of a halt, no question of a rest, "Push On" is the order of the day. It may seem somewhat absurd now, but it brings home to one the eagerness of all to share in the relief of Kut, that the first thing the Colonel did on landing at Basra was to wire to the Corps Commander at the front asking him to arrange for the Battalion to follow up the Relieving Column if it had passed Ali Garbi before the Regiment arrived. Regardless of risk, regardless of orders, urged on by the Colonel, the two steamers bearing the battalion pushed forward by night as by day for fear of not overtaking the Relieving Column. The winding of the river seemed interminable to those eager to be at the front, and there is little to relieve the monotony of the flat plain, save the colouring at dawn and dusk, and the appearance of a few mahelas floating down stream with their broad sails outspread to catch the north-west wind.
At Kurnah the Palm belt ceases and only at odd places and around villages are trees again to be seen. One cannot fail to be struck with the enormous possibilities the country offers for cultivation if only properly irrigated. Thousands and thousands of acres of the best of soil, and everywhere as flat as Salisbury Plain.