Indian cooks
seemed to make a better job of it than British. It was tough and stringy
and required a great deal of stewing. Rice was an occasional ration in
Basra, and a daily ration higher up, where it took the place of
potatoes. Lime juice, as a ration, was very uncertain. It was possible
to get it in the bazaar, and the Tommy could get it at the Y.M.C.A.
huts. Of these huts it is impossible to speak too highly. The Tommy
alone knows what he would have done without them. You drank, in the hot
weather, amazing quantities of fluid, and lime juice and water was the
usual mixture until the sun went down. One paid two shillings and
eightpence--two rupees--for one of those long, narrow, golden bottles,
with leaves and fruit moulded on their exterior. Wines and spirits could
be ordered through agents in Basra from Bombay at reasonable rates.
Bombay is about five days by steamer from Basra. It was almost a
universal experience to find alcohol necessary in the evening. The mind
was exhausted, food was unattractive, conversation was impossible, the
passage of time immeasurably slow, and a restless irritation pervaded
one until a dose of alcohol was taken. Its effect was humanising. Still,
it is worth remembering that the Prophet forbade alcohol to the people
of the country. But then he permitted other things.

Owing to the complaints about food supplies, in the early part of June,
in the second year of the campaign, there was published an order that
all troops were to have certain fruit and vegetable variations in diet.
Lists of articles were given, and the scale was very generous and
sensible. The actual supply of the stuff, however, did not come as we
might have been led to expect. This was because most of the articles in
the lists were starred, which meant that they were only supplied when
available, and I suppose India, which had to run several other
expeditions besides Mesopotamia, could not possibly produce enough
material to satisfy all requirements. At this time, too, many of the
cargo vessels were occupied in bringing immense supplies of wood from
India, and the local produce of Mesopotamia did not go nearly far
enough for the purpose. Some officers planted various seeds in patches
adjoining their quarters, but the business of watering them was
troublesome. A ration of fresh limes was served to our men on the 21st
of June for the first time, but the supply of these ran out the next
day. Some of the men retained these s