FROM LONDON TO AUSTRALIA BY AEROPLANE 



271 



Photograph by Sir Ross Smith 



A SCENE XEAR BASRA 



Clusters of date palms and a scant belt of vegetation fringe the banks of the Shatt-el-Arab, 

 formed by the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates. "All this was once the Garden 

 of Eden" (see text, page 293"). 



ants Douglas and Ross, who had both 

 been killed practically at the starting-post, 

 just a few days after we left, through the 

 crashing of their machine. Then we 

 turned to the column that recorded the 

 progress of Monsieur Poulet, who had 

 left Paris thirty days before and who, 

 we saw by the cables, was now in India. 

 We had certainly gained a good deal 

 on the Frenchman, but he still held a big 

 lead, and we were keen to get on with 

 the next stage. We turned in that night 

 feeling happier and more rested than at 

 any moment since we left England, and 

 we slept like proverbial tops. 



III. From Cairo Across Palestine 

 axd Mesopotamia 



We had intended staying a few days 

 in Cairo to rest, but, owing to the day 

 we lost at Pisa, we were now one day be- 

 hind our scheduled time ; so I decided 



that it must be made up. There had been 

 a heavy fog overnight, and on our ar- 

 rival at the aerodrome the weather con- 

 ditions were not at all enticing. Tele- 

 graphic reports from Palestine indicated 

 "Weather conditions unsuited for flying." 



LEAVING EGYPT 



My inclinations wavered. We were at 

 a hospitable aerodrome, surrounded by 

 old friends ; rain had begun to fall and 

 we were all very tired. The Vimy, how- 

 ever, had been overhauled the night be- 

 fore and everything stood ready. Per- 

 haps at the end of the journey we would 

 be more limb-weary, and a single day 

 might discount the success of the ven- 

 ture : so I made up my mind to proceed. 



We took off from Heliopolis aerodrome 

 with the cheers of my old war comrades 

 sounding above our engines. For fifty 

 miles we followed the Ismailia Canal to 

 Tel-el- Kebir. The banks were bordered 



