The sun., 1918-10-20

dian munitions stores furnished the Brit
ish armies with 10000, 900 rounds of small
arms ammunition, 10000 rifles and $50
guns. To-day that would be less than .
drop in the bucket. At the time it was
exceedingly important, tremendously i'm
portant perhaps, for no such arsenal ex-
listed in England or France.
"As for Mesopotamia, when the first ex-
petition was landed there were sixteen
steamers on the Tigris. By the fall OF
1917 there were 1,70O. The railroads have
followed the armies. The ancient city Of
Bagdad is being modernized- telephones
and so on"
"Tramwaysf' somebody suggested.
"Not yet" said the Colonel laughing.
Meanwhile II 900 square miles of land
we found utterly barren, because of the
uncontrolled river overflow at the season
of the rains, has been reclaimed by engi-
neering works and put under cultivation
"The crops being made are saving the
combined shipping resources against Ger
many 100000 tons year, which would
otherwise have to be used to provision
our armies in Mesopotamia. Cotton,
wheat, sugar, anything can be grown there
which grows In India. Once reclaimed
the soil is enormously productive, really
the garden spot alleged in the old tradi-
lions.
Great Areas Reclaimed.
"The reclaimed and cultivated areas are
distributed the length of the region oecu-
pied. have in mind one tract, 800 miles
in length, that was reclaimed by building
a bund from Basra to Shaiba for the con-
troll Of the Euphrates. That bund is
eleven miles long, forty feet wide at the
base and seven feet high.
'The climate is severe. Querneh, within
the junction Of the Euphrates and the
Tigris, is the place in Mesopotamia con-
sidered to have the best claim to have been
the site of the Garden of Eden. At Quer-
neh the temperature can rise to 40 de-
grees, and that is damp heat. Tommy
Mr.. Thomas Atkins-"is of opinion that
the flaming sword was there beyond .
doubt, but the use of the sword has got
mixed In the orthodox version. He thinks
it was used to keep the sinners in.
Between seasons, in October and No
vember, there is sixty degree tempera-
ture change.
"The reclamation and improvement that
have been begun in war time can be ex-
tended almost without limit Given his
chance the native Arab is by no means the
worthless idler you might suppose him
prising. But it will be years before any
Governments investment in these projects
ean-begin to yield returns. In the mean
time the country intrinsieally is the re-
verse Of profitable possession.
Interesting things I have seen there
myself I've seen a thousand Russians
in one of our prison eamps-you find that
interesting, do youf How did it come
about Well, they were trans-Caucasian
Russians from the country near the Turk
ish frontier, where it's hard to know who
is Russian and who Turk. But those
were Russians, right enough"
Col. Mines Own History.
One thing be had seen Col. Milne
thought unworthy of mention; however,
tales were told behind his back. He saw
Death, and he all but went out with him,
suffering sunstroke four times under the
aforementioned heat. The result was in
valid leave to go home, which is Scotland
In the Coloners case He came by the
Pacific, and once in the United States,
under request of the Viceroy, Lord
Chelmsford, he improved the opportunity
to lecture little and set US right about
India in war time. On his reaching New
York the British Ministry Of Informa-
ton secured him to do a like service for
Mesopotamia.
He is the son of a noted family of ship
builders; went to India at about the time