TCD MS 10515 folio 117 recto
Monday: May 29th 1916: Nasiriyah
A week since last entry. The days are monotonous. The novelty of a new place, especially one with so few attractions, gradually passes away. Were we not so confined to narrow bounds, camp life would be more pleasant. It is difficult to find occupation and literature there is none. Work is the very lightest. Though the study of languages is to me a mental labour like the learning of the doses in the British Pharmacopoea, yet I would attempt to gain some knowledge of Arabic were it not that the possession of the slightest accomplishment in that line confers a bond between the possessor and an unattractive country, a bond which in the future, it might be difficult to shake off. And having no ambition for any official connection with Arabia after the termin-