After the 130 degrees or so of heat (in the shade) in the Jordan
Valley, the cold in Syria, during the winter, seemed intense, and
ice had frequently to be broken before the morning wash. The snow
on the Taurus Mountains was not reassuring either, and firewood and
coal became almost unobtainable.
[Illustration]
"SEEING THE NEW YEAR IN.
"The only beverages obtainable at this time were native wines and
army rum, and as the former consisted chiefly of sweet Alicante,
methylated cognac and Arak, one became quite a connoisseur of the
latter and the different methods of making rum punch.
"One Quartermaster-Sergeant in particular made quite a reputation
for himself as a punch mixer, and I know that among his favourite
ingredients were oranges, lemons, figs, condensed milk, cloves,
nutmeg, pepper, ginger, boiling water.
"New Year's Eve saw (and heard) an officers' dinner, and all those
from far and near flocked to a small building near the station, and
under the able Presidency of popular Lieut.-Col. Wigan, of the
Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, and the direction of a Yorkshire vet.
and a Captain of the Deccan Horse, the Old Year (and in some cases
two Old Years) was seen out amid a score of toasts, the fumes of
aromatic punch, and the strain of a buckshee piano.
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