File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎310r] (628/834)

the garrison’s morale. In February 1918, Dr. Shevket records
that he was receiving many cases of scurvy from the railway
garrisons for treatment. In June he noted that fever was un
usually violent. His next record is that Spanish influenza set in
in a virulent form suddenly in December and that the hospitals
were unable to cope with the demands made upon them. Gen
darmes and even civilians had to be enrolled as attendants. The
death rate, which at the beginning of the month was between
thirty to forty a day, rose to half as much again by the end.
Some 850 of the troops died in December and another 200 in
January before the evacuation. Lack of clean clothing aggravated
the conditions, Dr. Shevket describing the hospitals as death
factories. Doctors and patients alike were lousy. No unit was
free from influenza and Fakhri himself had a sharp attack.
Emin Bey in his proclamation gave the total daily loss from it as
150, and computed that the whole H.E.F. would be decimated
by it in two months. The fear of it, indeed, gave Emin Bey
movement and great stimulus. Fakri, on surrendering, said that
the men had become very much weakened. And Captain Garland
reports that of the first batch who reached Bir Derwish on Janu
ary 4 many could hardly walk. The second lot and the rest,
however, were much better.
Supplies and Money.
Foodstuffs. General.
The food supply varied considerably. But, though at the
close it was far from adequate, the conditions obtaining can
never, in the light of historical parallels, be described as really
severe.
Fakhri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , in the course of his conversations with
Colonel Bassett, confessed that until 1918 he had been able to
get considerable quantities of foodstuffs from local Bedu and
Hail. In 1918, however, the Arab blockade had been tightened
and he was able to smuggle in very little. The Hail source of
supply ceased entirely, he said, on Ibn Rashid’s return there
from Medain Saleh. Latterly, he had succeeded in capturing a
few sheep from the Bedu at different times bj^ sorties from his
advanced posts at Djejla and Bir el Mashi.
Wheat.
Dr. Shevket’s diary bears out Fakhri’s assertion that the
pressure was not felt until 1918. On June 11, he notes suddenly
that he could get no bread for breakfast, the ration for both offi
cers and men having been reduced. Owing to the shortage, in
fact, the Ramadan fast lasted only half a day. On August 18,
fifty grammes more were taken off, and from that moment the
shortage made itself rapidly and increasingly felt. A week later
the ration was lowered by another fifty grammes, each man being