nk of the
Tigris.

[Illustration: The scene of the Persian Gulf Campaign.]

On Dec. 7 General Fry advanced upon the Kurna position. The
defenders of Mazera made a hard fight of it, assisted by the
strength of their position among a maze of pottery works
backed up by the ubiquitous palms, but in the afternoon the
village was carried.

Kurna was now isolated, but its capture presented great
difficulties. All through the 8th General Fry bombarded it
from Mazera, while his infantry were slowly ferried over
higher up. This was prepared by some daring sappers, who
swam the broad river and fixed a wire rope by which the
boats were worked backward and forward, and an advance was
made against Kurna from the rear.

Subr Bey had lost very heavily at Mazera, so he accepted the
inevitable and surrendered. So a brilliant little episode
came to a victorious conclusion. Subr Bey was returned his
sword and complimented on his stubborn defense.

The capture of Kurna secured the possession of the Basra
region. Since then operations have been directed to securing
it against Turkish attempts at recovery.

[Illustration: German Colonial Possessions in the Pacific]

A recent stage of this campaign is thus described in The Pioneer Mail
(Allahabad) June 4, 1915:

It is announced from Simla that on the morning of May 31 a
further advance up the Tigris River was made by the British
expeditionary force in close co-operation with the navy.
Notwithstanding the excessive heat the troops advanced with
great dash and determination, and successively captured four
positions held by the enemy. As far as reported we suffered
only a few casualties. Valuable work was performed by our
aeroplanes. The operations are proceeding.

The British force at the end of June had reached Shaiba.

VI. THE "UNREST" IN INDIA.

The splendid work done by Indian regulars and Indian imperial forces
(the forces supplied by native Princes) in Europe, in Africa, in
Egypt, in Mesopotamia is a sufficient answer to the suggestion that
British influence in India has been weakened by the war. The
enthusiastic formation of volunteer corps, both of Europeans and of
natives, is a further proof that the peoples of India, now more than
ever, realize the benefits of liberty and security which they enjoy.
In India the torpedoing of the L