WITH THE INTERNATIONAL FIELD FORCE IN CRETE, 1897. 525 
step towards a settlement. On the day of the Queen’s Jubilee we had 
a full dress parade of all troops, for the inspection of the Foreign Ad¬ 
mirals, and Commanders of contingents, who came round to Candia 
from Suda in the flag ships, and anchored in the roadstead. Much in¬ 
terest was exhibited in our screw guns, especially by the Russian 
Colonel-on-the-Staff, who was accompanied by the Commander of the 
Russian Mountain Battery, an elderly man who had fought at Plevna. 
The appearance of the harness, condition of the mules, and the mode of 
coming into action, appeared to interest them much. In the afternoon 
luncheon parties were given by the officers of the British contingent to 
200 foreign officers, followed by international sports. In the evening 
a banquet was given on board the British Admiral’s flag-ship, at which 
I suppose 60 officers, representing 8 nationalities, were the guests of 
Admiral Harris, who alone of all ranks received the Jubilee medal. 
It was a unique experience under the circumstances and one which 
we are unlikely to take part in again. The ships were illuminated, and 
formed a grand spectacle, the ship of each nation vying with the other 
in the beauty of its display. It would be invidious to discriminate 
where all were so effective, but I think the Austrian and Italian flag¬ 
ships divided the honours of the evening. 
A barge lit with Chinese lanterns and Bengal lights containing 
Italian seamen disguised as Venetian boatmen and minstrels, came 
alongside at the end of dinner and serenaded us. It was a beautiful 
night with nothing to remind us of the cause of our presence in those 
waters, except the sight half a mile away, of the Moslem town of Candia 
lying in sullen darkness. 
The next day 14 shots were fired at us over our mess tent, and I was 
stoned by a crowd of lads when riding out with Colonel Murray along 
the ramparts. It was nothing very serious, but it showed the spirit of 
hatred towards us, with which the inhabitants were imbued. 
I have alluded to the fact that our fresh water was mainly supplied 
from the condensing ship Samaria. It was generally warm and brack¬ 
ish when distributed to the men, and was not provided in sufficient 
quantities, owing to the limited condensing powers of the ship. The 
fresh water supply of the town had its source near Arkhanis, outside 
the out-posts, and in possession of the Christians. These latter were 
constantly cutting off the supply, in spite of the continual remonstrance 
of the British High Commissioner, He determined therefore, on 7th 
June, to take a force out to the water supply, some ten miles away, for 
the purpose of mending the aqueduct and interviewing the Christian 
chiefs at that place. Two companies of the Seaforths, a squad of the 
Italian battalion, a section of my battery and some Engineers, consti¬ 
tuted the column. They encamped at Spilia, seven miles out the first 
day, and on the second day advanced to the aqueduct, but met with no 
resistance. 
The infantry transport consisted of donkeys driven by Bashi-Basouks 
or rather ridden by them, as the animals carried the latter as well as 
their loads. The force remained five days at Spilia. This little ex¬ 
pedition was the commencement of a series of visits to the insurgents’ 
