TCD MS 10516 folio 9 recto
[28th July 1916] The death rate at Basra amongst British troops alone is 16 per day, and that at Amara 12 per day. The Padre lives in this camp. Morning and evening he is busy at his funerals. He buries the dead in batches. I noticed him at work this evening; he seems to know the whole service by heart.
At night the palm-trees wave overhead. It is tantalizing to see their drooping fronds swaying in the breeze, while beneath in the hot shelter of the grove we gasp for air.
Saturday: July 29th. 1916: Shatt el Arab
Embarked at 11 a.m. on P.40. She is a small paddle steamer, was formerly one of the penny-boats that carried Londoners up and down the Thames. This shallow little boat had come the whole way from London to Basra under her own steam. It seems surprising to /