The Battalion is having a rest in billets, but the billets available
in this part are too small and there are not enough of them for all
the troops in the district, so that things are very much crowded.
Did I tell you about this billet of ours? It is the dirtiest we have
yet been in. Four of us (including Mr. MacGibbon) occupy one room
and the family occupy the other. The family consists of a dirty old
woman, and a daughter not much cleaner, and three lads. We have our
meals in the room that we sleep in, and the family do their cooking
in our room which has the only available stove! The Interpreter
sleeps on the table and the rest of us on the floor, which is of
stone and very uneven. There is a 'midden' just outside our windows,
and we try to persuade the lads to do something to improve it, but
the need for improvement does not appeal to them. Fortunately we
have plenty of chloride of lime, and the eau-de-cologne you sent me
has been very useful as the flies are legion. The horses and wagons
are in a field behind, and the rain has made it very muddy.