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[Page 30]
mess; between the shrubs and bushes there are, in due season, (flowers and) flowering plants, of a variety of rare in form and colour, to glad the heart of the rock garden enthusiast. The days were blazing but the nights cool, clear lit by either moon or stars, and the only worries were lack of sufficient water; the howling of the jackals and the distant boom of guns to remind one that history was repeating itself and that this Sinai country was again the scene of a huge military endeavour. It was my duty to make paintings of that part of the Romani country where the Light Horse had a very stiff encounter with the Turk. The Romani country becomes more and more interspersed with the remains of ancient Palm Groves, which in early days probably covered the whole of Northern Sinai. Here and there a huge sandhill or mount rears up as the result of years of influence by the main winds and half buries one or more of the groves or Hods. Half way up some of these sandhills the green tops of the half-buried palms make decorative accompaniment to the undulating line of the almost knife-edged ridge on the top of the hill, intensely sharp against the blue sky. It was in these useful surroundings that the scrap before mentioned took place and I complimented one of our Brigadier Generals on his selection of the site, but he modestly assured me that the choice was entirely due to the persistency of the Turk and not to his innate love of the beautiful.
A word to those who would paint this country. Leave your