I have particularly mentioned food, because, even when rations were full—and they were often not—our soldiers were nearly always troubled with that subject throughout the East Africa Campaign. It is wonderful what men, living outdoors, can subsist on, but, at the same time, I will never believe that the cut-and-dry army ration, as served in Africa, is sufficient for men carrying on arduous operations in an intensely tropical climate. All units experienced a tremendous amount of sickness, and I am certain, in my own mind—and many others agree with me—that at least half of the sickness was caused, directly or indirectly, from lack of full and proper nourishment for a prolonged period. Transport difficulties, and the greater wars in Europe, no doubt had a strong guiding influence with the commissariat; and for such, allowances must be made. I have but little inclination to raise the subject now, for the roughness of war is always to be expected and borne, but for the future it is well to write down the harsh experiences of the past so that others, in like undertakings, may gain an insight into such things, and prepare for them, or seek to obtain a reconstruction. Food was a big question in Africa, and, if such a campaign should be called for again in any far-off country, administrators would do well to give serious thought to a serious subject that might well in the end save the nation both life and expenditure. On the frontier, men had very few means of adding to their rations. Parcels from home, in many cases, found them most of the luxuries they ever enjoyed. Again, at some places a venturous Goanese trader set up small wood-framed shack-stores, and dispensed to the troops a few odds and ends in very limited quantities. The chief luxuries (?) which the men sought I give below, and a comparison in African and English prices: Trader’s Price. English Price, 1915. _s._ _d._ _s._ _d._ Tea, per lb. 2 6½ 1 10 Sugar, per lb. 0 6½ 0 1½ Butter, per lb. 1 4 1 2 Milk, condensed 0 11 0 6½ Worcester Sauce 2 0 0 9 Soap, per lb. 0 10½ 0 3½ Cigarettes, “King Stork,” per 10 packet 0 2 — On those groceries, or such-like, every penny of a man’s pay was often spent the day he received it. Whenever the trader received a fresh lot of goods the news would fly about camp, and, as soon as night-fall came and liberated the soldiers from duty, he would be besieged by toil-worn troops hungry for luxuries, and speedily everything in demand would be sold out.