TCD MS 10516 folio 8 verso
[26th July 1916] shoots and branches of the family tree, but he knew about Aglish, Cloyne, and we were glad to claim relationship. He had for years been hoping to find a member of the Irish Hingstons. How strange that we should meet on the fringe of the Mesopotamian desert.
Friday: July 28th 1916: Basra.
Spent yesterday morning in Asshar fulfilling commissions for the mess and for Officers at Nasiriyah.
I leave tomorrow, at midday, for Kurna. I am not sorry to be returning. The climate is most distressing; at night the sand-flies are a torment. By the river a breeze freshens the humid air, but this camp lies enclosed in the palm trees and is oppressive in the extreme. All troops are debilitated in this climate. Fifteen thousand sick have have been evacuated in the past month.