TCD MS 10516 folio 8 recto
[26th July 1916] far below the confluence, we observe the combined stream of these mighty rivers foul with suspended silt. It would seem to me that the Hamar lake is as a settling basin to the Euphrates; through the entrance pours the silt-laden water, within the lake the deposit gently settles, from the exit flows water clear and blue.
Changed at Kurna into a paddle-boat, P.33. Sent staff back to Nasiriyah but went on myself to Basra. Four hours run down the Shatt-el-Arab, on a strong stream through the same scenery of desert and date-palm, brought us to Basra.
Evacuated sick to General Hospitals. Was sent to medical reinforcement camp to await orders. There I met a Capt. Hingston R.A.M.C., one of the English members of the family. He was almost as ignorant as myself of the