TCD MS 10515 folio 74v
[May 6th 1916]
The march was one of hope deferred. Under normal circumstances and in accordance with our expectations the distance should not have exceeded eleven miles. But our knowledge was very limited. The bank of the new channel of the Euphrates was unknown to Englishmen and the Arab guides, though possessing a wonderful faculty of striking the right direction either by day or night over the trackless desert, were not able to make a very reliable estimate of the distances in miles. But today, in addition to our ignorance, the powers of nature were against us. The Euphrates, or at least the series of lakes and marshes that here represent the new course of this mighty river, had overflowed the enclosing banks. The inundating waters had crept far into the desert,