TCD MS 10515 folio 109 verso
I return to my regular journal. Nasiriyah at first appearances is not unattractive and, those, who have had experience of other ports, persuade us that it is the best place in Mesopotamia. It is a town of ten thousand inhabitants with a modern aspect. The streets are regular, the houses built with some attempt at uniformity; the bazaar, crowded with Arabs, is roofed into an arcade. A large building situated on the river front, which served the Turks as a military barrack dominates the town, and close by, the mosque holds a place of prominence. The British flag flies over the offices of the Military Governor and the river gun-boats alongside the jetties manifest our dominion on the water.