On November 7th Colonel Bridges and his column bade farewell to Bijar. The inhabitants, or at least those of them who were too poor to take flight, turned out _en masse_ to speed the parting troops. They had got to know and to admire the splendid British soldier who is always a gentleman, who had fought the battle of the Persian people against Kurdish brigand and Turkish regular, and whose ofttimes scanty ration he was always ready to share with any roadside starveling who crossed his path. The Governor and a numerous retinue rode for two miles with the head of the column. On a bare plateau, exposed to a keen, biting wind, and under a lowering sky, the last farewells were cordially exchanged. The Governor told us that the British had left behind an ineffaceable record for justice and generosity. I think it was sincerely meant and devoid of any exaggeration. [Illustration: HARVESTING IN PERSIA.] It took seven days to reach Hamadan. The snow overtook us on the second day out, and the bitter Kurdistan winter set in with extreme severity. The Indian transport camels, unaccustomed to extreme cold, and not possessing the thick fur coating of their {251} Afghan brother, died in numbers, and the Indian Charvadars followed their example. From Hamadan there was the long trek down-country and over the snow-clad Asadabad Pass. But the weather grew milder and brighter as we steadily dropped down from the high altitudes, neared the warmer plains of Mesopotamia, and left Persia behind us. At last came the day when our long overland journey was to end, and Xenophon's war-worn soldiers never cried more exultingly "Thalatta!" "Thalatta!" at the sight of the sea, than we did on reaching the shores of the Persian Gulf. {252} APPENDIX THE WORK OF THE DUNSTERFORCE ARMOURED CAR BRIGADE I am giving the following account of the work of the Armoured Car Brigade with General Dunsterville's Mission, not only because the Brigade deserves fuller mention than I have been able to give elsewhere in this book, but because some description of their operations will give a better idea of the difficulties of transport, stores, etc., with which the whole force had to deal. For my facts in this instance I have been allowed access to an official report by the men who actually did the work. The Brigade, commanded by Colonel J. D. Crawford, was organized in squadrons of eight cars each. In addition it had a mobile hospital of fifty beds, and the usual supply column. The Brigade had originally been known as the Locker-Lampson Armoured Car Unit, and its work in Russia in the earlier stages of the war is one of the most stirring stories of the whole campaign. For its present work, it began to mobilize in England during the latter months of 1917. The personnel was obtained by the transfer from the R.N.A.S. of officers and men who had been serving in the Armoured Car Unit in Russia. {253}