"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. Personally, I crossed eight sets of Bagdad railway track in three strides. "THE BRIGADE RACE MEETING. "In February the 14th Cavalry Brigade held a Race Meeting on a short grass track of two and a half furlongs, discovered hiding among the rocks. A 'totalisator' run by an Australian in the interest of the Brigade, was run on sound lines, and if your horse won you got your money back and a little over, which isn't the case with some totalisators that we know of! Several 'scurries' and mule races took place, and everyone enjoyed the fun thoroughly, especially the mules. The machine-gun element sprung a surprise on all by winning the Grand Prix, open to the 5th Cavalry Division, with 'Nobbler,' a horse which was to have run at Gaza in 1918, but was 'scratched' owing to lameness. 'Lion,' a mobilisation horse of the Sherwood Rangers, and a prime favourite, came in second, and both horses were ridden at 11-7. [Illustration: Aleppo. Squadron camp in the town.] "THE FIRST ALEPPO MEETING.