TCD MS 10515 folio 67v
[May 2nd 1916]
camping ground, was remarkably dry and suitable for our camels. So we were compelled to manhandle everything from the camp to the firm sand of the desert and there fix the loads to the camels.
This delayed us. We were unable to start till 7a.m., though the work of loading commenced at 4a.m.. We dreaded these late starts; they meant so much the longer march in the hot sun. It was perceptibly warm, when, after a long drink of the brackish water of the Euphrates we pushed away from the camp. Pace was at first good; we rapidly approached an old mud fortification, known as Alone Fort, but some distance further on we found the desert broken into a number of small sand-dunes which gave our carts much difficulty. These were the