We were obliged to make many sanitary improvements

TCD MS 3414 folio 30 recto

TCD MS 3414 folio 30 recto

[June 1915]

Chapter 4 Our Life at Amarah.

On our arrival we were disembarked and transfered to the an old double decked stern wheeler, which took part in the expedition up the Nile for the relief of Gordon in Khartoum 188[?]. In this wierd craft we made our way down the Jahaila canal and banked in opposite to an Arab coffee house next to which were two large granaries; these we made our homes. All the regiment could not be shipped at one time on this small craft so several journeys were necessary. It took us some weeks to remove the grain and get comfortable, we of course were obliged to make many sanitary improvements as well as turn the Coffee house into a respectable mess; a coffee shop was also installed & filled with supplies from India for the use of the men. Amarah itself is a picturesque place when viewd from a point up or down the river, but it is dirty. The houses on the river front are well built & of the usual design; at sunset the front if viewed from the right bank of the Tigris presents a very pretty spectacle, for there was always a peculiar light at that time, which falling on the mud coloured town,