In Mesopotamia

Four hundred tons of hospital equipment must be transferred between ships before the narrator's party can make its way up the Shatt-el-Arab to Basra. Maurice Nicoll's account of Mesopotamia during the First World War brings medical service into view through unloading delays, crowded waterways and the effort of working in oppressive heat. The opening follows the arrival of the hospital party among transports, barges, palm groves and busy landing stages.

Further upstream, a passage toward Amara takes the party past Kurna, where local traditions associate a walled garden with Eden. Barges carry mules and supplies alongside the steamer, while insects and still air make a night on the river exhausting. Chapters on the sick and wounded, heat-stroke and the day's work place these observations within a medical setting. The book offers readers a personal account of the transport, weather and daily surroundings that shaped wartime hospital service.