Baghdad Jan 22 Darling Father - a most curious thing, I've had no letter from you for the last two posts. I know nothing is the matter, for I have letters from Mother (the last dated Jan. 9), but what can the air mail and the overland mail be doing? I miss your political notes very much. I send you a copy of my report to the Minister (not for publication) and now I'll tell you the human details of my tour of inspection. I left Baghdad on Sunday 13th with J.M. Wilson and we went by train to Hillah [Hillah, Al]. It was grey and stormy weather and there had been rain in the night. We arrived at Hillah about 2 p.m. and found a taxi to take us the 12 miles into the desert to Kish. We began our adventures by falling into the first canal, just outside the railway station - at least our front wheel was well over the narrow bridge. However, I called up support from the station and we pushed the car over. As we went on it behaved in a fashion madder and madder. We negotiated the bridges over the canals, only to run up at right angles on the opposite bank, and finally when the car, in the open plain, began to spin round like a tee totum, J.M. declared that he would not risk his precious life any longer. On examination it was proved that the sole connection between the steerage and the front wheels was a wire which had snapped; we hadn't so much as a bit of string to replace it, so I wandered off to look for help. Sure enough I found a boy walking from Hillah to Kish. I bade him go back to Hillah, tell the Administrative Adviser or the Mutasarrif to send us a relief car, gave him an eyeglass case to serve as an identification badge and relieved him of his cloak and the kerchief full of pomegranates which he was carrying so that he might run quicker. He set of at a fast trot and I returned to J.M. By that time it was raining and we decided that we had better walk on. We walked for an hour and a half, through rain and mud, to Kish where we were welcomed by Professor Langdon and Mr Mackay. No car subsequently turned up and consequently no baggage; my sole possessions for the night were a cake of soap, a hairbrush from the Professor and a pair of pyjamas from an unknown benefactor. But these were enough. We spent the time before dinner in looking at their wonderful finds, and after dinner in discussing ancient Babylonian sites with Professor Langdon. And then we went to bed in tents and slept soundly - at least I did anyway. Next morning there was a thick white mist which gradually cleared into bright sunshine. The boy turned up; he said the Mutasarrif would send out no car until he heard further from me and he reclaimed his cloak and pomegranates. Accordingly I despatched another boy with a letter. We spent 3 hours walking over the site and examining the excavations. When we got back to the tents at 11 o'clock there was no car, so I climbed to the top of the zigurrat [sic], hailed in 4 horsemen and requistioned their horses, on two of which J.M. and I mounted and prepared to ride into Hillah. But we hadn't gone ten minutes when we espied two cars, in one of which was the baggage. J.M. had by this time missed his train to Baghdad, but I had time to catch mine; so I jumped into the car, and arrived without accident at Hillah where I found my Minister, Sabih Beg, pacing the platform expectantly. He was on his way to the Kuwait [Al Kuwayt] Conference with Ibn Sa'ud's delegates. I got into my travelling carriage - a compartment, a bath and a kitchen - where I eat the excellent lunch Zaya had prepared for me and talked to Capt. Flaxman who had come down to see me. At Diwaniyah [Diwaniyah, Ad] Sabih Beg came to have a talk, after which I dined with him in his big saloon. Next day, Tuesday 15th, my carriage was slipped at Khidhr [Khidr, Al] station before dawn. After an early breakfast, I went down to the river, crosed in a ferry to Khidhr village and presented myself at the house of the Mudir, who provided me (via the report) with a horse and escort to ride to Warka [Erech (Uruk)], which is Erech, the great Babylonian capital of the south. We rode hard for two hours to the mound; I was riding on a policeman's saddle. I've got a peculiar sort of skin that comes off if you look at it; it did. When we reached the mound we found quantities of people digging and rounded them up. They all screamed and cried when they saw me, but I gave them the salute and they were comforted. I said "Have you any anticas?" No, they answered, by God no. I observed "What are those spades and picks for? I'll give you bakhshish for anything you have." At that a change came over the scene and one after another fumbled in his breast and produced a cylinder or a seal which I bought for the museum at a few annas. The people came from a little village, Hasyah, about a mile away, and I sent them off to bring all that was there, while I examined the mounds. They returned while I was lunching on the zigurrat and I bought a quantity of terra cottas. I rode to the village and then back to Khidhr and back to my carriage, where I had a hot bath and some food and went to bed. In the night we were conveyed half an hour down the line to Darraji [Darraji, Ad] where we arrived at 7 a.m. I may mention that we were 4 hours' late after the manner of our railways. I had breakfasted and was ready to start with Shaikh Nasir who had brought horses to meet me - again I refer you to the report. I rode to Sunkara on an Arab saddle and a halter - you'll remember that I had no skin left on my body. As I urged the mare along, the policman who was with me observed politely that I didn't seem much of a horseman - literally what he said was "Perhaps the Khatun isn't accustomed to riding on a mare." (I must tell you that the right stirrup was so short that it gave me a crick in the knee, and the mare's hoofs so long that she stumbled heavily every 20 yards.) I replied meekly that I was really accustomed to riding a mare, but not on an Arab saddle and a halter, which satisfied that policeman. They always referred to me as the Daulah, the Government. "If the Daulah wants, we'll do so and so" etc. Sunkara was worth any amount of hours of cricks in the knee, but on returning I got onto the policeman's excellent horse, which was provided with an old English cavalry saddle and bridle of sorts, and I came back at a steady pace which surprised those Arabs. But I'm free to confess that they were two very hard days. I hadn't ridden astride since 1921 and that I wasn't the least stiff afterwards is to my physical credit. In the night I was carried down to Ur Junction where I arrived at dawn on Thursday and walked out to Ur mound in the bitter cold of the early morning, to meet Mr Woolley just coming back from the excavations to breakfast - a meal of which I partook heartily. We spent the morning looking at their finds and at the excavations, and the afternoon examining the Tall al 'Ubaid [Tell el Obeid] site which gave me the greatest sensation, I think, which in archaeology I have ever experienced. I've reproduced something of it in the last paragraph of my report. In the evening we examined their wonderful collection of terra cottas, talked, dined, and went to bed. Next day, Friday 18th, the Mutasarrif and Inspector (Capt Kettlewell) came out from Nasiriyah [Nasiriyah, An] to see me. The Mutasarrif, one Jamil al Madfai, was supposed to have been responsible for the murder of all the British officers at Tall 'Afar, near Mosul [Mawsil, Al], in 1920; but the evidence against him was mere gossip and before Sir Percy left I induced him to allow Jamil Beg to return. He came back in July, when I was in England, and having not a penny to bless himself with, at once joined the extreme anti-British party. When I returned he never came to see me (of course he does not know and will never know the part I played in his fortunes) nor did he call on Sir Henry. But Ken Cornwallis, that great mediator, saw him and thought well of him, and a month ago he was appointed Mutasarrif of Muntafiq where he is doing very well. After discussing with him how to stop the elicit [sic] diggings at Sunkara, I had a very outspoken and intimate talk with him, at the end of which he sent his respects to Sir Henry and promised to come and see me whenever he came to Baghdad. I think on the whole, that was as moving an experience as the sight of Tall al 'Ubaid, don't you. I left Ur on Friday night, got to Baghdad on Saturday afternoon and spent the whole evening up to 1 a.m. in writing my report. On Sunday, J.M. took me to the ministry, where I deposited all that I had bought in the Museum (except four Babylonian duckweights and a gold Greek earring which I have kept as perquisites) after which I went to my office to read accumulated papers. Major Edmonds, Administrative Inspector at Kirkuk, and a charming person, came to lunch and brought me very early pottery from the talls near Kirkuk. Then I went to the house of Mme Ja'far Pasha to attend a meeting of a woman's club which is just coming into being. I'm wholely [sic] in favour of it - it's the first step in female emancipation here - and yet wholely against it because it's going to give me such a lot of trouble. Lionel Smith came to dinner, to pour out his woes - his Minister is completely impossible - and be comforted by my tales of what happened to mankind 6000 years ago. It's true that when you see these immensely old things your own troubles don't seem to matter, but I don't think you realize it to the full unless you are the profoundly unhappy person that I am. After my absence, I've had two very busy days, working in the office on arrears from 8.30 till 6. H.E. and Lady Dobbs gave me the most delicious welcome. Today Mr Woolley came to lunch with them - he had to come up to see a dentist and both he and they were perfectly charming. It really is nice to have a male and female High Commisssioner who take an intelligent interest in archaeology and other things. Jan. 23. [23 January 1924] The mystery is explained. I've got today by airmail your letter of Jan 10. (I think on the whole the overland mail is less often delayed than the air mail.) Your letter was worth waiting for and it's deeply interesting and I communicated large parts of it to Sir Henry and Bernard who were thrilled. We're longing to know who is to be our S. of S. But already I find myself writing to him shadow-cast[?]-before reports and despatches quite different from those I used to write to His Grace. It's curious - one insensibly finds oneself wanting to bring out different points, better ones often. I Bellieve I shall feel at home with a Labour Govt. I've written such a good despatch today about Anglo-French relations; I do hope Sir Henry will approve of it. The moment I got back the weather broke. It began to rain on Sunday and night and has been at it on and off ever since. The discomfort is great but rain is needed. And anyhow I've stopped riding about the country. Today I've had Mr Woolley, J.M. [Wilson] (it was too muddy for her to come) Mr Sturges of my office, Capt Glubb, an Intelligence Officer and Col. Hardcastle to lunch. Do you remember Col. H? we met him at Beyrout [Beyrouth (Beirut)] - he is financing Nairn. A nice man. He has been over to see the route himself. After lunch came in the Director of Archaeology at Hyderabad who is here on a visit - name of Yazdani, an Indian Sunni and a very intelligent man. He was immensely funny, not quite intentionally, in his description of his time in the Hijaz with King Husain. "That old man is his own policeman, his own banker, his own cabinet, his own archeologist. No one criticises him and of course he makes innumerable faults. He doesn't care. When he's told that pilgrims have been murdered by the Arabs on the Madinah [Al Madinah (Medina)] road he smiles horribly." I think your advice to Mr Asquith excellent and I'm rather sorry it didn't go. And oh Father, I shall love to contribute to the Powell plates - vide Mother's letter of Jan. 9. An admirable idea. Your travel projects are most exciting and here is Herbert's deeply interesting letter. Your very loving daughter Gertrude Jan. 24. [24 January 1924] It's raining hard and I'll answer for it that neither airmail nor overland mail will leave today. It was all I could do to get to the office in a car.