524 WITH THE INTERNATIONAL FIELD FORCE IN CRETE, 189;. 
both Christians and Bashi-Bazouks. Endeavours were made to make 
a rough cricket ground in the ditch, and a polo ground of sorts on a flat 
piece of cultivation, within half a mile of the fortifications. With a 
little trouble, both these grounds were prepared, and afforded through¬ 
out our stay invaluable means of exercise and recreation to the British 
portion of the garrison. The Battery was very successful in the gar¬ 
rison contests at cricket, rowing, and tugs of war. 
Crete is an ideal country for Mountain Artillery, and the transport 
of the country outside the towns is all pack. For a few miles inland 
from the coast line, the ground is broken up into nullahs and the few 
roads are stone causeways. In the interior of the island, the mountains 
run up to over 8,000 feet in some places, and their summits are covered 
with snow, for 8 months in the year. Towards the end of June the 
sun began to get very hot, especially in the early morning, when there 
was never any breeze, and in July, August, and September, the heat 
then was very great. The men troubled with vermin, heat, dust, and 
scarcity of fresh water, and with indifferent food, began to sicken, and 
we had many deaths from enteric and dysentery, losing 3 British officers 
and about 30 men of the force in Candia. N umbers were invali¬ 
ded, including our Battery Sergeant-Major. I had at one time so 
many sick, or at light duty, that I was very hard pressed to turn out 
the Battery. The officers suffered in succession (fortunately) in¬ 
stead of all together. However the arrival of a a: aft of men in 
August, put matters on a better footing. The sickness amongst the 
French troops at Sitia was worse than our own. 
The events of the Greco-Turkish war were followed with much in¬ 
terest, as it was felt that until matters were settled on the Continent, 
no advance would be made towards determining the destiny of Crete, 
by establishing its promised autonomy. In the meantime, parties, with 
flags of truce, which I was occasionally allowed to accompany, were 
periodically despatched to the Christian Insurgents, preaching the pro¬ 
paganda of autonomy. But they would have hone of it. “ A bas 
l’autonomie! We are liars, murderers, and thieves,” they said—"we 
cannot rule ourselves, and wish to be united to Greece!”’ After the 
withdrawal of the Greek troops, towards the end of May, they modified 
their cry, and substituted “ Great Britain ” for “ Greece.” It was not 
until August that they accepted the general principles of autonomy. 
The withdrawal of the Greek troops was not completed without some 
difficulty, as the Insurgents at first refused to let them go, saying that 
they had got them into the mess, and must now see them through it. 
Colonel Vassos had to escape by night from the island, in a small 
sailing brig, and was captured by an Italian torpedo-boat, but it was 
thought expedient to let him proceed to Greece. A party of marines 
were landed at Platania, the embarking station, (a few miles west of 
Canea) and in small parties the Greek troops were embarked with all 
their mountain guns except two, which had been purchased and placed 
in position by the Insurgents on Akrotiri heights, outside Canea, and 
were not forthcoming. However, on the 27th May the last batch of 
troops were embarked for Greece. Their departure marked the first 
