TCD MS 10515 folio 112 recto
We have settled down in our new camp. We try to persuade ourselves that we are comfortable. A regiment pitching camp at Nasiriyah finds itself confronted with two alternatives; the palm groves or the open desert. Each site has its advantages, each its disadvantages; but strange to say and in opposition to the general experience of human nature, those who live amongst the palms pity the misfortunes of those in the desert and those confined to the desert wonder how anyone can endure the miseries of the palms.
We are amongst the dwellers in the desert; we believe that we have the best of good things. We feel the slightest breeze, we escape the moisture of the dank groves, we enjoy cool and bracing nights. The palmophiles retort that they have all