pe which quivered under the
sun. Occasionally Arab villages were passed, constructed out of the
matting made from reeds, which is a local industry. The reeds grow in
big patches all the way up the river banks. On the second night we tied
up below Ezra's tomb. There was local Arab trouble in this part at the
time and we passed an outpost of native troops; also a mud hut, standing
solitary in a swamp in the plain and bearing the words "Leicester
Lounge" in black lettering. It seemed deserted.

At night there was a lot of lamp-signalling all round the horizon in
naval code. One caught M.M.O. repeatedly and then a lot of figures. Some
fires lit up the sky line to the north. On that night the heat was
beyond description. A plague of sand-flies and mosquitoes descended on
the ship. No one slept a wink. The mules screamed and kicked. There was
not a breath of air. A heavy smell pervaded the ship, and at times it
seemed that one's mind wandered a little. Before dawn a great cry came
out of the steamy darkness from some worshipping Arab and was repeated
twice. After a long silence a cock crew far across the plain and was
answered a hundred times. Then came a misty blue light and a sudden
glare of yellow. The day had begun and the engines started.

A monitor passed, bristling with guns and painted a vivid green. Ezra's
tomb is a mosque standing stark on the brown plain beside the river in a
clump of palms. It is kept in beautiful preservation, for it is visited
by pilgrim Jews. Against the lovely blue of the dome, with its circle
of gold, a tall palm leans, bending sharply inward as if to kiss the
Prophet's last resting-place in some sudden mood of devotion. Some way
above it lies a big village, and as we passed crowds of Arabs lined the
bank. Naked boys dived into the river after money. The women, dashing
types with nose rings, clad in robes of wonderful vermilion and purple
colours, ran along the banks with fowls and eggs for sale. Herds of
black buffalo, submerged up to the nose, basked in the water.

At one lonely place we passed a small shelter, a roof of yellow matting
supported by a few posts, containing six rather pale-hued women with
richly coloured robes and bangles seated in a semi-circle on the ground.
Outside stood the lord of the manor, very swarthy, in dazzling white,
with a rifle slung over his shoulder, scowling ferociously as he
surveyed the plains. He was a kind of policeman, I believe, in our pay.
At any rat