TCD MS 10516 folio 6 verso
[25th July 1916] of the desert and Arab camps are springing up at the margin of the retreating waters. Reeds and rushes give the lake a marshy appearance; terns and herons haunt its shallow shores. We passed two gunboats at Hakika; two more while steaming through the lake. The shallow water soon placed us in difficulties; our boat continually grounded, churning up the soft silt as the engines backed or veered the vessel from side to side. A strong breeze, pleasant from the point of view of personal comfort, bore on the superstructure of the flat-bottomed boat so as to turn her from her course.
By 4.30 pm. we had passed through the lake. We were glad to think that its difficulties were behind. Leaving the lake we passed a dredger from the Rangoon busy at work trying