Page 72 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

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1926

Nothing much of interest in the morning. In the afternoon we motored down to the quay & took a sailing boat over to
Muharraq where I had a look at the newly done up police station. It is quite a success but as usual the man who took
on the contract complained that he had spent over Rs 200 more than fixed price. They always do this, having no idea
of what a proper contract means. Sailed back after sunset, very pretty indeed, the sky was lovely & the sea was quite
mauve & lots of big sailing dhows on it.

Monday 19th [July]

Still awfully busy at the Budget, when one deals with amounts like £150,000 it needs some accounting. I shall be glad
when its all done. Didnt go out in afternoon. Finished my second painting of the bazaar - not very good but quite a
good covering for a piece of wall space in the room. Spence, Pickering & de Grenier came to dinner. We had a cold
dinner, iced soup, iced fruit salad & ice cream. Quite good. Spence was inclined to pick a quarrel with de G all the
time, but otherwise it was a success. Afterwards played Bridge, good games, when the others departed de Grenier
& I went down the town to see the Muharram show, its a great occasion among the Shia Mahomedans of whom
there are a great many here. In Baghdad & most places no Christians are allowed anywhere near the place. It
was really a most amazing show. We were the guests of an old Shia man & sat for a while outside his house, also
I had the head of the police with me, an escort of policemen carrying torches, so we did the thing in style. The
show consisted of a procession which went through all the streets, halting awhile outside the mosques, first a
number of old men carrying banners, some of them very beautifully embroidered, from the mosques, & then
about a couple of thousand men, stripped except a waist cloth, beating their chests & scourging themselves with
chain whips, all in a sort of religious frenzy shrieking & yelling, & on all the roofs thousands of women
screaming, tearing their clothes & throwing sand on themselves, all by the light of torches & a moon. Really a