t, 1915, Nasiriyeh had been made habitable by the
British engineers and a large part of the force departed for Amara on
steamers and barges, most of the soldiers wearing only a waist-clout
and still suffering from the intense heat, as they crouched under the
grass-mat shelters that had been provided. The garrison left in the
town to keep the Arabs in order suffered from swarms of flies, heat,
fever, and dysentery, and would have welcomed a Turkish attack if only
that it might afford some variety to their monotonous life.

During this time General Townshend, from his base at Amara on the
Tigris, was moving his heterogeneous collection of vessels up the
river and had begun friendly negotiations with the powerful tribes of
the Beni Lam Arabs, who held most of the land between the Tigris and
the northern mountains, and much territory on the southern side of the
river. Here stretched out a desert waste between Amara and
Kut-el-Amara, occupied by powerful confederations of fighting
Bedouins, the Abu Mohammed tribes, known by their black tents, who
moved about the British base on the river; the Makusis tribes, who
fought as light cavalry on the side of the Turks, and the Abu Dir
Diraye Arabs, who were ready to fight on any side that promised the
most booty. For religious reasons their priests urged the Arabs to
fight against the infidels, but the Britons had enjoyed considerable
prestige in Mesopotamia; thousands of Arabs calling themselves English
subjects and claiming the help of the British Consul in Bagdad when
they were in difficulties.

A fighting league with the great federation of Beni Lam was greatly to
be desired by the British, for it would enable them to use freely a
considerable stretch of the Tigris, and secure safety from attack from
both banks. The Beni Lam by siding with the English, whose recent
victories had not failed to impress them, hoped to gain new grazing
territory from their rivals who fought with the Turks, so an alliance
was formed and ratified by the Sheiks of the confederation, and Sir
John Nixon, Commander in Chief; Sir Percy Cox, British Resident in the
Persian Gulf, and General Townshend commanding the troops at Amara.

The British were under no illusions regarding the Arab character,
having learned from some bitter experiences just how much the wily
nomads were to be trusted. As long as the British were victorious they
might count on the Arabs' allegiance, but in case of defeat he was
more