Still our position is ominous

TCD MS 10515 folio 111 verso

TCD MS 10515 folio 111 verso

marched back over the boat-bridge and pitched our tents on the right bank of the river.
The change does not seem for the worse. We have better water and are nearer the town of Nasiriyah. Still our position is ominous; it would be so anywhere in the desert close to the river. For the Euphrates is now confined to its channel by high embankments. Its level is almost flush with the top of these embankments and towers about ten feet above the surrounding country. It is rushing onward in a seething flood; little trickles of water everywhere percolate through into the desert; the keenest watch has to be kept for the slightest indication of any weaking of its banks, as in their resistance our security from floods depends.