Helen Fowlds.

West Mudros.

Lemnos.

Sept. 15^th, 1915.

This should be a good place to begin for I hope never to see it again. We arrived off the packet from Boulogne at 1200 noon - no one to meet us. Finally found the unit at the Metropole - Spent the afternoon shopping - but Folkeston is the last place on earth to shop in. We have as much as possible ready - but that's not saying much.

The Hotel is huge but the management is not up to much. The place is full of Canadians, at lunch I saw hundreds and so many of their wives, etc. are here too. We are billetted here so aren't paying the bills, thank goodness, for it would be rather expensive.

The whole town is filled with Canadians and such splendid big men as they are. I was far too busy watching their faces as they went by to pay attention to shopping. I met Reg Runnels, looking so big and brown and manly.

The town itself is quite large - and spreads away inland from the cliff and down along the seafront. We walked miles to the shops.

The coast line is not so pretty as that of France across the Channel.

To begin with it is the largest hospital ship afloat 12000 tons. It has been running from Southampton to Havre all winter and this is only its second trip to the Dardannelles.

The cabins have been all knocked out and in their place are huge wards filled to overflowing with beds, swung on a central pivot, that move whenever you do. We are all on one side of the biggest ward with Queens on the other. The other unit is downstairs some where. It is anything but secluded but we are all together and have heaps of fun. It was very cold the first day out and we were all "damn near froze" as Clark says.

There are 24 English sisters belonging to the ship and quite a few 7 R.A.M.C. men, besides all the ship's officers. On this last trip they went right up the strait until within 2 miles of Acha Buba and saw the battle shells fall all around them and they were in great danger. The wounded were brought down to them on rafts with only the first field dressing on. They had 1500 cases and 56 deaths on the way home.

They have huge wards and a very complete operating room with two tables, a dispensary, sterilizing room and all the conveniences of a modern hospital.

This is the anniversary ending the first year of the war. Who could have foretold a year ago that to-day would see us off the coast of Spain bound for the unknown East.

It has been an ideal day. There was early service 7.30 for Anglicans and they woke with great religious zeal about 7.00 and discussed everything under heaven till we were all awake and they had made many enemies.

The R.C.'s had their [ ] at 10.00, and the heretics again at 11.30. The decks were jammed and only those in the bald headed row of the penitent bench - [ ] according to taste - heard what the sermon was about. The Sisters were herded together on one small section of the deck. The padre exhorted us to celebrate the day fittingly so after it was all over we had beer for lunch.

About 12.30 we sighted land again and at 2.00 were off Cape St. Vincent capped with its huge light house and attendant buildings. The coast just there is high and rugged, but farther south slopes, to reveal a rolling country dotted with tiny villages. Everything is of white stone and shows up very plainly.

Just below the Cape is another prominent point with a signalling station, and beyond it a village at the foot is an [ ] harbour full of fishing boats. Further inland are the Everlasting hills, half veiled in mist.

No wonder dreams are likened to castles in Spain, the very air makes one doubt the reality of things, the warmth of the sun dulls one's ambitions and it is a pleasure to sit and fancy what lies beyond that rather forbidding coast line. The air is heavy with the odor of bal[ ] of gile[ ].

Have just been reading an Imperial Birthday Book compiled and edited by Miss [Clint], and in it came across Brownings "Home Thoughts" which had been in my mind all day -

"Nobly, nobly Cape St. Vincent to the north-west died away.

Sunset, ran one glorious blood-red reeking [ ] Cadiz Bay

Bluish mid the burning water full in face Trafalgar Bay

In the dimmest south east distance dawned Gibraltar, grand and gray.

Here and there did England help me, how can I help England? Say?

Who so turns as I this evening turns to God to praise and pray.

Farther on I came to a verse of Burns that I think would find its echo in most of our hearts -

"Home, home, home, home fair [ ] I be

O home, home, home - to my ain countrie"

It really was wonderful when we left England how well every one took it. Of course there were no farewells except one or two, but everyone had been torn up by the roots without warning and their feelings were still raw. It will mean big changes to us, as a unit. We can't all expect to go home. The country is hard on men but it is a perfect hell for women, and yet no one complains. Harold [Bybie] may underrate the Canadian sisters as he will, but for sheer grit he couldn't have beaten that farewell at Southampton. There was nothing to make it easier, in the way of excitement, as there wasn't a soul to say Goodbye on that quiet English Sunday, we just slid out of harbour, watched the coast pass by, wondered what the various objects of interest were, and when land was growing indistinct, went down to unpack our clothes which were in a sad state of confusion. But why be [slushy] - for the sun through the mists seems to promise to me "I'll shine on ye yet in your ain countrie."

"For on the gloomy bosom of the deep

Soon as Malaed's misty tops arise -

Sudden the Thunderer darkens all the skies

And the winds whistle & the surges roll

Mountains on mountains and obscene the pole

The tempest scatters and divides our fleet

Part, the storm urges on the coast of Crete

Where winding round the rich Cydonian plain

The streams of Jordon issue to the main.

There stands a rock high, eminent & steep,

Whose shaggy brow o’er hangs the shady deep,

And view Gorty[ ] on the western side

----- heaved the fleet into the -- bay –

----- they gained the Pha[estan] shores

But fine tall barks the wind & waters tossed

For from their fellows on the Aegyptian coast"

The [ ] of day is quenched beneath the deep

And soft approach the balmy hours of sleep

There slowly sunk the ruddy globe of light

And o’er the shaded landscape rushed the night

"For eight slow circling years, by tempests toss'd

From Cypress to the far [Phaenican] coast

(Sidon the Capital) I stretched my toil

Through regions faltered by the flows of Nile.

Next, Aethiopia’s utmost bound explore

And the parched borders of the Arabian shore

Then [warp] my voyage on the southern gales

O’re the warm Lybian wave ----

"Exploring then the secrets of the state

He learned what best might urge the Dardan fate

"… The morn in orient purple dress’d

Unbarr’d the portal of the roseate east."

on the Lesbian shore

Gibraltar

Population 23,450. The Rock is 3 miles long & ¾ miles in breadth. On the north Mt. Rockglen (1356 ft). Signal Station – 1396 & Sugar Loaf Hill (1361) on the South.

"Gib." (Gibraltar)

We passed at 2.30 am. and to our surprise it was almost indistinguishable. In France it was broad day light at 2.30. A faint outline of lights was visible – & on the Africa shore the illumination of a large city –

Pautelleria – we passed the island in the middle of our famous game with the English sisters. A purplish misty cloud rested on it, obscuring the higher parts of it. It was formerly a convict settlement but now is covered with vineyards. It belongs to Italy. There was considerable vegetation and against it and in the slanting rays of the afternoon sun the white buildings showed with startling vividness. Off shore were some huge rocks & a smaller fortified island and light house.

Malta –

Pop – 184,000 – Area 20 miles by 9 ¾ miles. The island [Ogygia] mentioned in the Odyssey where Ulysses is supposed to have been bewitched by Calypso. Also the [Milita] – where St. Paul was shipwrecked & where he began a Christian church. A church now stands up the place where he first set foot. The temple of the Knights of Malta is also here, and in it and other ancient churches is some of the most magnificent tapestry in the world. The great dome Musta is not in sight as we lie in harbour – or rather just outside the harbour in the bay. It is said to have been built without scaffolding. Valetta is in view all along this coast – a city of -----, with an English pop. of about 10,000. In peace times it has a garrison of about 4,000 soldiers but at present no doubt it greatly exceeds this. It is the headquarters of Sir Ian Hamilton & the chief wireless station for the Mediterranean. Three huge stations are to be seen from here.

We reached here some time during the night and at 4.30 some of the girls were ambitious enough to get up. They said the white town in the early morning light looked like the ghost of a dead city.

The scene before us later when the sun rose was picturesque in the extreme. The clear blue water and tiny fishing boats with their snow white sails, the sand coloured island, the various types of architecture, the old native city beyond, and the new on the shore, only dating back to the 15^th Century & therefore of recent date, the fortifications naval dockyards and other signs of a military and naval base, made a picture never to be forgotten.

We are drifting with the tide and the island is revealed in panorama before us. There is no point of great height on the island, and no vegetation except that resulting from artificial irrigation, which however is said to be very luxuriant.

A boat came out about 6 am. and asked if we wanted coal or water or provisions. We did not. Then they asked if we wanted to know the destination of the Canadian units and everyone on the boat shrieked wildly "Yes". Well it appeared they had no news for us and had to wireless to London to the War Office. By 10 am. they were back again with news that we were to proceed to Alexandria for orders. Great was the joy as we had feared one unit at least might be left behind at Malta.

While waiting for news a troop ship bound for the harbour passed quite close to us. For a while the wildest cheering from boat to boat and cries of "Are we downhearted?" kept us in the public eye and then the little dispatch boat raced over to them and we were in a moment forgotten, every head turned to learn the news, and just as rapidly that in turn was forgotten and all the eyes were turned to the shore.

Farther off shore a 1^st Class Battleship and a cruiser were to be seen, both French and on their way to the harbour as Malta is also a French naval base. The harbour of Valetta is of great natural strength beside the break waters and fortifications. Many of the forts etc. date back to the days when the Knights of Malta held the Island against the Turks, and more recently when for two years the inhabitants aided by the British besieged the town and finally recaptured it from the French in 1804.

English is the language of commerce & English currency is in use though French and Italian gold is good. Italian is the language used in the courts and French is also spoken.

We had opportunity here to notice the intense blue of the water – less noticeable while in motion and as the boats drew near their keels and propellers were plainly visible through the clear water.

We rather hoped the natives would come out with lace, as the English sisters said they did the last trip of the boat. It may have been because it is Sunday but at any rate no one appeared.

The lace they bring out is of a rather inferior quality, and one has to haggle with them as at first their prices are exorbitant, but we all hoped to get a little if only as a souvenir.

The great dome Musta --- feet. in --- supposed to have been built without any scaffolding, was not to be seen, but the [Templars] Church was and several native Mosques to give one an idea of the style.

We got under way again about 10 am everyone in great humour at the hope of going farther on toward the zone of activities. Mail was brought to us and ours taken away – however no mail for us came with that.

Service began shortly after we were moving and it was very impressive. The men of our units were together on D deck, the R.A.M.C. on E. deck – [aft] and the officers and sisters on E and the boat deck, never under any circumstances does the English service lose in power or seem anything but suitable and fitting. We were exhorted to remember, as we had sung, that indeed we were treading where the Saints had trod" – and the lesson had to do with the journeyings of St. Paul. The men all seem to have voices above the average and the hymns are always a delight.

It is now 12 noon and we are again out of sight of land, and another voyage of 2 ½ days lies before us, to Alexandria. No one regrets it for we are very happy indeed here and it will be a long long time before we are again among such pleasant people and living in such comfort.

Malta or Mediterranean Fever

Low vitality, indefinite duration, irregular course, specific germ micrococcus militensis.

In typical form – a series of fibrile attacks lasting one or more weeks, subsiding into a period of absolute or relative apyrexia of uncertain duration.

Characteristic complications are-

Rheumatic like affection of the joints

Profuse diaphoresis

Anaemia

Liability to [ochites] neuralgia.

Formerly supposed confined to the Mediterranean its distribution now known even in Eng. & U.S.A.

[Aetiology].

Micrococcus mi[ ] – found in spleen – of little direct use in diagnosis.

Susceptibility 6-30 years –

Period of greater prevalence – June, July August & Sept. Cases occur all year round.

Local causes – Tendency to occur in particular houses, towns, barracks, ships.

Milk is perhaps the most important medium of dissemination.

Mode of Infection – not generally transmitted from one person to another.

Possibly infection is blown about by winds bearing in mind the presence of the organism in the excreta of man & animals, & the dusty nature of the soil.

Milk and other foods – in 10% of milk of Maltese goats the micrococcus is present.

Immunity follows one attack.

Incubation period difficult to fix. 6 days after arrival – 14-17 days after leaving Malta.

Symptoms.

Lassitude, malaise such as typhoid. headache, bone ache, anorexia. Headache severe, thirst, constipation. Similar to typhoid except absence of diarrhea – no rose spots.

Gastric catarrh

May be delirium at night.

Remittent fever.

Lumbar pain may be urgent.

After 1-2 weeks, tongue clears, appetite improves, patient remains listless with headache and constipation.

Fever with perspiration.

The peculiar fleeting rheumatic like affection of the joints so characteristic

One day a knee is hot, swollen and tender next day another joint.

This --- rheumatic like condition may go on until all joints of the body are involved.

Characteristic feature is temperature – gradual ladder like rise – week or 10 days followed by gradual ladder like fall week or ten days –

with mild cases the exception.

Usually after few days apyrexia – the fever wakes up again and runs a similar course followed by a relapse & so on during several months.

Gradually remittent or nearly continual in type – the fever exhibits distinct daily intermissions, suggesting [ ]ptic invasion in a malarial fever – no evidence of suppuration to be found or of the malarial parasite

There is the intermittent type.

[Sequelae] – most serious consequences are debility, emaciation, anaemia, rheumatic like fever, neuralgia, o[ ]itis mastitis ---, boils –

Mortality – 2.3 %

Diagnosis – from typhoid, very different in early stages. absence of rose spots, diarrhea, season –

After several weeks diagnosis is easier

Egyptian money -

The Egyptian £ E - 100 piastres or [Kurush]

1 piastre - 10 millièmes

1 great piastre - 10 mill.

1 little piastre - 5 mill.

The Egyptian pound = 20 p.6d.

1 piastre - nearly 2 1/2 d.

1 sovereign - 97 1/2 piastres.

20 francs - 77 piastres

Turkish pound - 87 1/2 piastres.

Silver coins -

Riyal masri - 20 pias.

Russe riyal - 10 "

[Rub a] riyal - 5 " 15 1/4 d. usually called a shilling in Cairo -

Kirshen 2 pias.

Kirsh - 1 ".

Russe Kirsh - or Kirsh tari[]a - 1/2 pias.

Alexandria - Founded 331 B.C. by Alexander the Great.

Population - 377,000 including 48,000

Europeans - 2^nd city of Egypt.

Fort [Rait] Bay - on the side of the famous "Pharus" - a light house built [by] Ploteu[ ] II

Philadelphus in 280-274 - originally 540 ft. high

One of the seven wonders of the world.

Statue of Mo[ ] Ali - in Place Mehemet Ali

Pompey's Pillar - 88 ft. high including base - perhaps a Christian monument of victory - built about time of Theodosius I

Stands on sight of famous temple Serapeum - dedicated to Serapis, the god of the lower regions.

Catacombs of [Kow]-est-Shukaya (hill of potsherds) - an Egyptian burial place of 2nd Cent: A.W. [Leinn] in rocks.

The tombs were discovered in 1900. They consist of several stories, Alexandria blend of Egyptian architecture [with] Graeco-Roman style. Probably tomb of some Egyptian Magnate [with] smaller chambers for family servants. A spiral stair-case lighted by a large, round shaft descends near a sarcophagus-chamber of later date to two stories. From the entrance to the upper storey is a huge ---.

Turkish Prisoner's Camp

We drove to the catacombs but as it was a native holiday no one was admitted. There was nothing to be seen from the outside except a modern cement floor in the midst of a waste of sand - with a very modern raised skylight, and some guards at the gate.

Pompey's Pillar marks the site of one of the most ancient temples but at present only the pillar and a small sphynx are to be seen. Near by was a native cemetery. We could see the mourning women out side the gate sitting in the dust. Inside the people were swarming about the graves, which were marked by some sort of stone of pure glittering white. It was a very desolate looking place, just a waste of sand.

On that day we also drove along the Nile, or rather one branch of its many mouths - it was filled with boats loaded for Cairo. It was a mere stream as we saw it and very muddy. Along its banks grew date palms, and real palms, fig trees, the leaves exactly as art has shown them, and very dusty, bedraggled looking gardens.

Up the Nile

The native quarters alone were worth the trip. It happened to be the native Christmas and the city was a blaze of colour. The flags are red with 3 white crescents. Over here the Red Cross is not much used as the natives object to it - a red crescent on a white ground being used instead.

The native dress is picturesque in the extreme, and Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. They are ancient and modern combined, robes of bright orange, red, magenta, white, black and mixed, with stockings usually of a most incompatible shade, and often bright yellow European boots. The f[ ] seems to be the universal head dress - it is lined with straw & seems to be very cool. Some of the dock labourers and boatmen wear turbans with open work lace crowns, and others had crowns, made of large cocoanut.

Some of the men wore the baggy Turkish trousers and others just the long clinging robes. The women appear to have several layers of clothing but the outer is a long voluminous wrap of black. The upper class women wore veils over their faces, of white crepe de chine and the poor classes seemed to wear black. They don't all wear nose pieces.

The children are very bright looking, big brown eyes, and very white teeth, so dirty, and yet lovable.

The harbour is very large, divided into the East and West parts. There were about 30 ships, Turkish, German and Austrian interned. Of course commerce is practically at a standstill, in place of trading vessels and passenger steamers are battleships, transports, troop ships, and as many as 8 hospital ships in harbour at once.

At the mouth of the harbour is a net for protection against submarines. No vessel is allowed to sail between sun set & sunrise. Several forts command the entrance.

The palace of the Khedine was quite near - an immense white building with modern striped awnings, brilliantly lighted at night. The harem is there too though this Khedine is said to have only one wife. His yacht lay in the harbour near us.

Egypt is British in name but the men on the ship all said that it was an open secret that if the Turks managed to hold the Dardanelles, and that England seemed to be getting the worst of it, Egypt would side with Turkey. Now, of course, they are all yelling for England - our boatmen were most loyal, we noticed in showing us the ships England had captured.

The shops are mostly on the Rue Che[]-[P[ ], Rue St. Catherine, Rude de Rosette, one of the streets of ancient Egypt, and the Square de Mehemet Ali.

Raoul, of Paris & London, is the main shoe shop, Bryan. Danies, a pocket edition of the Army & Navy, [Hammo], a French departmental store, Shuler's, the best place for books, a branch of Roger & Gallet's, where all sorts of toilet article were obtainable, large native stores, curio shops, good jewellery stores, in fact Alexandria is a very up-to-date place to shop in.

The jewellery with the exception of Egyptian curios, is much like what we saw in France. The Egyptian jewellery is very bizarre, mummy cases opening to reveal the mummy, baskets showing Moses inside [cup] of health and happiness & the key of the Nile, scarabs, real and imitation. I did not buy anything except a couple of [ ]. [ ] [ ] comes of Egyptian design for so much is bogus, being manufactured in England or Germany. Many of the things were exactly the same as Aunt Hattie has sent us from China or Japan.

The hotels are fairly good. The Majestic, Savoy and Metropole are among the best. For the men there are excellent clubs.

The French gardens are wonderful, a mass of extravagant bloom of all colours, & all sorts of native animals and birds.

St. Mark's is the principal English church, but there are several very interesting native mosques.

We spent practically four days at Alexandria as we anchored about 9 am. Aug. 11. and did not leave again till 1 pm. Aug. 14. However in that time we spent barely a day on land, as the first day no one was allowed ashore or the last day, and another afternoon we spent waiting to be transferred from the Asturias to the Delta. The Asturias docked the afternoon of the 12^th, and just across the pier from us was the Franconia, now used as a troop ship.

Dock at Alexandria

While on the Delta we were near a transport evidently used as a base for submarines for two were moored to it, B 11, that did such splendid work at the Dardanelles, under St. Holbrook and B-6.

I must not stop without mentioning the heat. Personally I had come prepared to die of sun-stroke within 24 hours. On the ship it was always fairly cool, but in the city the heat was intense. As we had considerable shopping to do we had to rush about a good deal, and suffered in consequence. I do not think it was as I expected, as I have felt pretty hot at home, but the air is so humid that one perspires excessively & in that way feels most uncomfortably sticky.

We saw the last of Alexandria about 2.30 pm, its flat coastline broken by occasional palm trees and houses, fading away into the sea and the last stage of our journey has begun.

The smells are as nothing compared to those in the streets of Staples, or parts of Boulogne.

Tonnage - 9000 -

Not nearly so large as the Asturias. Accomodation for 560 cases. On this last trip they carried 1100, and left as many more laying on the shore.

They have been on this run since April 27th, which is since the beginning as the fighting began April 25^th, and so they regard the Asturias as a mere newcomer and not worthy of consideration. Their destination is usually Alexandria but they have gone to England occasionally.

The meals are better and the service is better than on the Asturias. The Matron says that once the wounded are on board everyone, stewards, stewardess, ship's officers and everyone available cuts down dressings and helps in a general way. The crew is [mature] with a few exceptions and all the stewards and [waiters].

There are 14 sisters and 6 M.O.'s and they all look awfully tired and over-worked. When they take wounded on, they work all the first day and night and all next day till midnight, when they go to bed till 6 a.m. The Matron has asked for 4 from our units to go up to the peninsula and help them, but it is too much to expect to be one of the lucky ones. It would be the experience of a life-time as the ship is constantly exposed to shell-fire.

Lemnos -

We first saw the Island at 8 am. on Monday, Aug. 16. A high promontory to the left, a line of hills with valleys sloping to form a narrow shore at the right. Mondros Bay is a splendid natural harbour, practically unused till war broke out - now it is the headquarters for the fleets while in action and one of the busiest and most carefully guarded harbours in the Mediterranean. Like all the others it is guarded by a submarine net at the mouth.

We were all on deck with glasses as we steamed slowly in and the panorama unrolled before us. What at first had seemed part of the land soon appeared as the anchorage for fully a dozen battleships, completely concealed from view, except for the tops of the masts, and quite indisguisable at a distance. Besides there were hospital ships - hospital carriers, that is transports now being used as hospital ships, and all the etceteras war calls into being.

Our first impression of the land was a collection of tents enveloped in a sand storm. The tents may or may not have been a hospital, but that sand didn't look good to us. Further observation revealed several villages very [tiny], something with a black flag on it, and thousands of tents all over the island. Most of them were bell tents and are, it is said, used for troops.

The island is nothing but a sandy, rocky waste. There are a few trees to be seen but very few.

So far it has not been satisfactory having hospitals on land. There is no water except what comes from Alexandria or what is distilled on board ship.

The Headquarter's ship "The Arragon" is lying quite near us, and is connected by private cable with the War Office, London. That is our only connection with the outside world and being purely official isn't of much use.

Yesterday afternoon a bulletin was posted stating that the Royal Edward had been torpedoed while landing troops and had gone down in four minutes. We saw her sail from Alexandria and waved to the men. One rumour says they were Canadians but that is not credible. Out of about 2000 only about 500 were saved and taken aboard the Hospital Ship [Saudan]. We passed her on our way from Alexandria but she gave out no news.

Ordinary transports are being used constantly for carrying wounded & everyone here considers it a great risk. The Allonia left with 3000 wounded and has not yet been reported safe, and the [Mauretania] is 6 days over due from England.

We were transferred from the Delta to the S[ ]la, a sort of hotel ship or distributing base for R.A.M.C. & Sisters. They are being sent on daily to hospital ships or carriers but so far only one Australian Hospital has settled on shore.

It is an old P. & O. boat and very dirty. Our unit is fairly well off in cabins - 4 in each and hot as blazes but we are sure of a certain amount of privacy. #3 is partly settled and the rest sleep on deck. Some English sisters left to-day so there is more room now.

We found a lot of Toronto men among the R.A.M.C. men here and last night we had a wonderful time dancing and singing and talking over old times. They are all sore and very blue. They say the management down here is an absolute force and that things are in a terrible state of chaos.

Last Sunday during the big fighting in the Peninsula between 40 & 50 doctors and 100 nurses were at [Imbros] on a transport. They could see the battle and knew that men were dying by the thousands and yet they were not allowed to go up. Within half a mile of them a transport with 2000 wounded was lying - staffed by 4 Sisters and 2 M.O.'s. They were all nearly crazy to help but new nothing about the transport till after. Of course the authorities didn't think of sending them. The English sisters are just about crazy as many of them have been sitting around for about 3 weeks. Some of them were allowed to go and help on a carrier for 24 hours. At the end of that time in spite of the need for them they were recalled. One M.O. has gone to England on the [equetania] and he vowed he'd raise hell if he ever got there. The whole affair at the Dardonelles is said to be a frightful botch and not worth the men they are losing. Sunday's casualties alone were 14000 at the lowest figure.

There is scarcely a breath of air here in Mondros Bay and we are all very hot. There is no ice and no drinking water except bottled Soda, but the meals are fairly good. The flies are terrible.

There is absolutely no chance of getting off the boat and no little boats to sail around in if one could get off.

The shore looks exactly like the northern coast of Africa, just a line of hills against the faint blue of the sky, and nothing but sand between them and the sea. A couple of the hills are quite high 300-400 ft, but for the most part they are just high enough to shelter the harbour and keep off every breath of air. As I look at the shore now it is dancing in heat waves, and a very desolate, deserted looking place.

The Africa arrived this a.m. and Col. McKee had orders to disembark his men at once. He says wherever they go we will go too so that means the Island for us. Last night, Aug. 18, there was a moon, and you'd never recognize the place. A little Scotch Sister said the scenery after 8 pm. was exactly like Scotland - the hills look so soft and purplish you could imagine them covered with heather and the bay is as smooth as any lake, but up to 5 pm., it is exactly like hell.

We are to have a 1000 bed hospital on the west shore and in spite of everything the English sisters envy us. They are all destined for hospital ships and many of them are poor sailors.

Our first meal -

I missed it by being laid out, but it consisted of [ ] beef & Army biscuits - very few dishes & one or two camp stools -

Our own mess dishes, casserolles etc. we had in France had not been unpacked and it was a sorry looking meal to face after cutting loose from civilization.

Our next meals were much better, it's true and no milk but tea for all that. In a few days the Greeks began to come around with eggs & we were able to draw bacon from stores, and condensed milk.

Our first funeral.

Miss Munroe of #3 died at dusk the evening of the 7^th of September. She had a severe attack of dysentery and in her weakened state an old heart lesion developed again and in the end was the cause of her death.

Mrs. Bell was on Special with her at the last and the day of the funeral she looked about gone herself.

They have a large Indian tent for sick nurses and gave Miss Munroe every possible attention. A Specialist saw her the day before and held out no hope though when she lived through that night they hoped for a change.

She was a woman of about 50 - very keen for work and as soon as the tents were up, she threw herself into the organization of her particular ward, taking no rest. She was a very fine woman and a great loss to the unit.

I had talked to her a great deal coming out, meeting her through Mrs. Bell, and she was so full of enthusiasm.

We went over about 2 o'clock as the funeral was the next afternoon. Such a distracted place! Mrs. Jaegert was nearly crazy, and half sick herself, but gave to the last inch and thoughtful of every detail.

The officers had made a casket and covered it with black cotton, and on top they chalked a white cross. It was rude and bare in the extreme but the best obtainable.

They closed the coffin early in the day and we are glad to remember her as we knew her on the boat. Every thing possible was done to spare the feelings of the others, and it was wise for they were all partly hysterical and dead tired having Miss Saunders also in a critical condition.

We all took our places in the Sisters' mess which had been hurriedly fixed up. The benches were covered with army blankets and in the centre was a table draped with a sheet.

The officers brought the body in and though we all knew it wasn't wise to let our feelings get the better of us, the sight of her cap and belt on top of the flag was the crowning touch of pathos.

Their padre was a big, whiskered man, who seemed to be trying to make the best of a painful duty. He hastily read the service and in an amazingly short time it was all over. He was very weak and unconvincing but perhaps it was better for the other girls whose nerves were pretty raw. He didn't affect us any more than if he had read so many statements about the weather.

We were all together at one end of the mess and the officers at the other, including representatives from the Staff and various surrounding units.

After the service there was a long wait for the transport waggons. By this time little Miss Askin was crying like a baby and we all felt rather like outsiders as we couldn't feel as they did.

Finally the transport waggons appeared, drawn by four mules with riders, and followed or headed by a firing party as a Tommy had died in the hospital and was to be buried at the same time.

We all stood outside while they arranged the transport and then the soldier was carried out to the other waggon. #3 men were paraded and fell in after the waggons, and the officers after them.

It had been arranged previously that no Sisters would go to the grave and it was perhaps wise but it seemed too bad to see her go away without a single woman near her. In France all the English Sisters in Boulogne went to the grave when their Sisters died in Wimereux. But when they (#3) didn't go, we couldn't very well.

It was one of the hottest days we'd had and the dust rose in clouds. As the little procession vanished over the hill we started home and kept it in sight till it crossed the river. It surely was a sad sight and awfully hard on her people to have her die out here. Such a desolate place for a woman to be buried and everything so different from what it would have been at home.

The dirty, springless waggon, the half wild mules needing the whip every few yards to keep them from breaking into a gallop, the white cap fluttering in the wind, the poor little Tommy in the next waggon with spades etc. that they did not trouble to hide, "the foot sore firing party and the dust and stench and staleness", the millions of flies, the squad of buglers that joined the procession farther along, all jarred terribly on one's nerves. It was so absolutely matter of fact, and military, strictly active service.

Somewhere across the valley they have a graveyard, and later in the afternoon we heard the firing of the Salute and the "Last Post".

It got me terribly, and every night since when they blow "Lights out" from all the camps around I think of that "Last Post" wailing across the valley. After all it is only "Lights Out" but that morning seems so far away.

Our first floods.

Hereafter I shall take the story of the arc without salt, having seen a small scale exhibition of how they run the waterworks out here. When it comes to rain you can hand it to Lemnos, so far as I am concerned.

I went to bed at 8.30 under a clear sky, in a dry tent. I woke at noon to find a thunder storm in progress sheets of lightening and pouring rain. I closed the tent and went to bed again. In ten minutes I heard a swish at the top entrance and found that the trench around the tent was overflowing. I put on my bed room shoes and lifted a few odd boots etc. and then, like the [chauvais] I had to leap from crag to crag for suddenly the floor was rapidly being submerged. I landed on the bed again and found my rubber boots. Tucking in my pyjamas I pulled and hauled thousands of boxes and hold alls and bags from under the beds and finally had the floor clear of everything but the trunks - and at least four inches of water. It rushed merrily through carrying weeds and chips and acting like a regular stream.

The tents flapped and shook and slackened and it took half the M.O.'s to keep them from going down altogether as the pegs drew out of the wet ground.

It was a lovely morning. The only thing that made the day bearable at all was the mail which arrived at noon.

In the afternoon I tried to sleep but it wasn't much use, so I got up for tea. Mr. Mackenzie was there and a major and Capt. from the Bedfords - Scoble appeared in slicker and sou'wester quoting

"Her feet beneath her petticoat

Like little mice stole in and out",

and lifted said "petticoat", though really no one wears such a thing, to reveal two rubber boots plus several pounds of weed, straw, etc. like a fringe around the soles. The men howled, and then proceeded to curse the "Aragon" and its muddlers with great freedom and force. It’s the fashion out here to abuse the people on the Aragon, commonly called "Arrogant". The management is certainly atrocious. The "Intelligence officer" is mentally deficient judging from the mess he makes of things.

In the middle of the afternoon some "gorgeous being" in white and gold followed by lesser lights [ ], followed by half a dozen sergeants a dozen corporals and about two dozen privates, all mounted, arrived to inspect the camp and looked properly upset at what they saw. Mud was everywhere in all its beauty. The General or whatever he was promised to report on the hardships the hospitals were undergoing and certainly if he does, we won't regret the discomforts of the day.

Our first centipede.

To me belongs the honour of discovering the first centipede in our tents. I was chasing a small and harmless spider from my bed when Forbes shrieked that there was an express train running along the sheet. It had disappeared when I turned but we finally found it curled snugly away under the mattress. I have never felt so sick.

It was a black thing about 6 inches long and yellow underneath. It had millions of legs and travelled with surprising rapidity.

Several of the orderlies have been bitten and have found them in their beds.

Later in the day Myra found one on the inside of her waist after wearing it all morning. She almost fainted.

Our first party.

So far all our social stunts have been pulled off in broad daylight. The celebrated artist C. Bruce has shown the possibilities of "Lemnos by Moonlight", and several have followed the path she illuminated but of affairs by candle and lantern light we have had none.

It began at performances by the Hippodrome Operatic Co. The stars lamenting their lack of a proper audience. They were getting stale, passe and altogether fed up. They longed for other and masculine worlds to conquer.

The famous comedienne Mlle. Georgina Victoriana Beech McCullough, invented a costume ie la Sis Hopkins that made the original look like something the cat brings in on a wet day. Her uniform skirt, invented and patented on board H.M.[T]. [Sicula], clothes her amidships.

Of her stockings ports have sung!

"Her collection of stockings is rare -

She changes they say

Several times in a day

And each time it's a still smarter pair"

The general public must be treated to a proper display of said hosier, so Mlle. wore a blue one with a brown shoe and a white one with a black shoe.

A young grandfather's clock from the slim wrist of the beau de Myria completed that end of the show.

To show that such things were still in existence she wore a serviette de bain, as a recherche little girdle.

Her hair embodied the best features of the coiffures made famous by Della Fox. Pompadour, and afore said Sir Hopkins, but originality triumphed over art and the result was truly McCulloughesque, as none of those ladies had ever considered the use of bath sponges as hair ornaments.

The H.R. & O. does not allow for parties and says one must appear ever and always in uniform. Not caring to go agin the gov. an R.A.M.C. armlet was added as a collar - Red Cross in front. Even Brock could find nothing wrong after that.