TCD MS 3416 page 30
[May 1916]
Chapter III
Our journey to Ras-el-Ain.
We left Mosul on the evening of the 27th of May. Carts were allotted in the proportion of 1 cart to 6 officers; our orderlies were expected, as hitherto, to walk, but we were able to give them a share of the riding and to ride ourselves one hour in every three. We had all laid in a good supply of dried fruits and flour, which we made into unleavened cakes during our journey, & on this store we lived for some 7 or 8 days, supplementing it when possible by eggs and fowls. Our destination was RAS-EL-AIN, the southern railhead of the still uncompleted Baghdad Railway, which is in connection with the existing systems in Asia Minor. Ras-el-Ain is 187 miles from Mosul as the crow flies. Our marches from Mosul to Ras-el-Ain were very similar to those from Baghdad to Mosul, but having carts instead of donkeys made them less tiring: the country also was much more cultivated, and more streams were met with along the road. We were now gradually leaving the Arab country behind us and getting into Syrian and Kurdish territory. The inhabitants seemed cleaner and slightly more civilised than those of the country