Zeitoun
8/1/1915 8.PM.
Dear Everybody
Just back from a hearty dinner, & having a few spare minutes, I am going to write a few lines to let you know that we are still in Cairo & looking forward to the day when we get the order to be up & doing. Not that we are sick of the place, far from it, we still realize that it is an exceptionally good training ground, but everybody else is doing something while we are doing nothing. We hear various reports here as to our field of work, some of the places mentioned are Palestine, landing at Jaffra & going in that way, & another is a place further up the Nile in the Soudan, I forget the name, anyhow it is of little consequence for I think it is only a gag. As regards Jaffra & Palestine it is quite possible very probable but would not like to put one piastre 2 1/2d on it. We have great sport here with the natives, & their money. Their money is counted in 1/2 paistres, piastres 2 piastre pieces 5, 10 & 20 piastre pieces, 97 1/2 equalling one English pound, & 100 in one Egyptian pound. There are som smaller coins called 1 milleim & 1/2 milliem, there being 10 milliems in one piastre. I am going to send
[Page 2]
one each of these coins home, along with some old Roman coins I picked up while out at the famous Pyrimads. The say is now Sunday, hour 11.15. AM. & we are just back from church parade. Having a few minutes before stables I thought I had better seize the opportunity & continue this. Well as I was writing about money I had better have done with it. Unless one has these infernal piastres he is quite at sea trying pay for any thing, as the natives do not understand the english money & in many of the business places they will not accept it, because of the amount it take to exchange it. Even with gold, unless the coin is quite new & shows plainly the King’s head & milled edge they will not accept it. They do not like hlf soverigns either, alway look suspiciously at them & hum & haw about changing it that if one has a soverign he would far rather use it than be bothered with them. They have paper money just the same as ours, name 50 piastre notes & 100 PT notes. When we came here first it used to bcost us a great deal more to move round than it had any right to. We invariably understimated the value of these coins in the eyes of the natives. They were never used to dealing in coins larger than piastres, & it was marvellous the amount of work we should have got out of them for the money. Laterally the papers published the scale of charges, & when we started to put them into force the black devils began to kick. Really it might seem callous to speak of them like that,
[Page 3]
but to anyone who has seem them & had any dealings with them, they are almost as animals. One can never imagine them ever having any intelligence, yet where ever money is concerned they are as cunning as the very duce, as for trusting them to do a piece of work it is out of the questions, you have simply to stand over them & watch them do it. Left to themselves they set up a hub-bub & it is the fun of cork to listen to them, but after that phase has past you suddenly realize that the work is not being done. I am quite sure the natives of today could never be made good citizens, their baits, mode of living & general character, almost places them on the same standing as pigs. When I tell you that the places they live in are hovels of dirt, worse than any place you can conceive of in N.Z. & that they live on the leavings of other peoples, such as crusts of bread old pieces of meat that have been thrown out with all the other refuse of the camps it will give you an idea what they are like. As for washing, they honour it more in the breach than the observance. Another feature of this country, is the tameness of the house fly that we have in N.Z. They are the same fly exactly, & they simply crawl all over you, & it is impossible to shift them unless you actually wipe them off. We always say they are trained to be like it, for in the heat of the day you will see the natives going along with their faces covered with them, & they take no notice, just let them come & go when they are satisfied.
[Page 4]
Saturday morning the N.Z. division parade & inspected by Thos. McKenzie, he delivered a short speech. We then had a march past General Maxwell taking the salute. In the afternoon four others & self visited the historical place known as “Joseph’s Well,” & the Virgin Tree.” The place is only about 20 minutes walk from here, & as a consequence well patronised. It is most interesting to visit these places, but hard to realize that they are actually the places spoken on if the Bible. The villiage surrounding this place is called Matarich, & is linked to the main part of Cairo by rail. Other than the historical interest there is nothing to see except a small chapel that has been built. This place though small is simply wonderful inside. I have a photo taken of it, with the other fellows who were with me standing on the steps. When I say the others, I mean with the exception of the one who took the snap, who happened in the instance to be Garfield Stewart. We then visited the Virgins tree, & Howie this time took a snap of the rest of us standing beside the tree. From here we went to the well, & I myself took a snap of the others & the well, I tried in taking this one to get a clear view of method of drawing water for irrigation purposes & if it turns out all right you will see it in due course. In case my own should not turn out allright I bought a book explaining the surroundings & giving views of the different places.
[Page 5]
I also bought some post cards showing the paintings that are on the walls of the chapel. I will post these to Auckland along with the book & Jeanie can send them on when she has seen them. When I send this book I will if I have time endeavour to mark the places I have been to. We have been so busy lately I have not been able to go anywhere. There are quite a number of places the othe tent mates have been to that I have, unfortunately, not been able to get to. What with one thing & another I have this last fortnight struck Ord. Officer or have not been allowed to leave camp because of the other Subs wanting to go out that I have seen abolutely nothing new. I was talking to George Menzies for about 20 minutes this afternoon. On our way to church parade this morn I notice him amongst the guard doing duty at the supply depot, & he returned the fat wink I gave him. So this afternoon I went back & had a few minutes with him & made arrangements for him to come to the tent tonight. He is in the best of form & fit for any contingency, & just the same old stick. He was telling me he has been very lucky since we came here had a good deal of time to himself & has seen pretty near all there is to be seen, & he is just the one that would. That he has made a systematic tour of the place is evident for the armed himself with a guide book & there are only a couple
[Page 6]
of places in it that he has not seen. The men in the ranks have us beat in that respect, every time they have far more time to themselves than we do. This last fortnight we have not been able to leave camp until after six at night, & then it is too late to go anywhere. Our horses are not doing so well lately as they might be doing. They are holding their condition all-right but are getting very dry in the shin; due I think to the way they are being fed. If the people of NZ could just see what they are getting they would look pretty hard. All our oaten chalf is done, oats too, & we are feeding them on stuff they call tibbin. It is barley straw broken up like bullock chalf but not so well cut. The manner of cutting it is primitive indeed, it is cut into chalf & threshed at the same time, by the simple method of making donkeys trample over it. The straw is so brittle that it breaks up readily, just how they separate the corn I do not know, but that we get all the dust husks & broken straw for chalf I am well aware. With this we put about three or four double handfulls of crushed barley & a couple of handfulls of bran. the horses would hardly look at it at first, but it is a case of “when need’s be, the devil must.” I do not remember whether I have ever told you or not, how we fare for fruit. Anyhow, we can get as many oranges as we like to buy, & good ones too, at the rate of 4 & 5 for a piastre = 2 1/2. Dates also are very plentiful
[Page 7]
but are not bought extensively because of the clanliness of the natives who handle them. We can get them fresh from the tree, or ones kept for some time, but none of them equal the date you can get in N.Z. no flavour about them; not bad with bread & butter. Bananas are very scarce & nothing flash the ones we do get. Nuts of all sorts are very plentiful, but apples are tasteless. Of all the places we have been in I have not come across anything like the good old Rothie apples. Just had a long yarn with George Menzies & really it was just like home talking to him, close as we are to one another it is seldom we see each other. There is no doubt he has seen all there is worth seeing Cairo. The hour is now 10.15 P.M. & I have to visit the guard sometime between the hours of 12 midnight & 5.30 AM. The book & potcards I was talking about will have to wait till next week. I want to write to the children tonight but will have to let them wait till next week. Again there are things I know I want to write about but cannot get it to my finger ends. I got Charls letter all-right, the papers also, & the book of poems for which many thanks. No mistake McI.s name looks well in print. Oh! Lottie I want to express my thanks for the little calander, just the thing I needed, & reminded me of the talk we had in Dunedin. Well I must say au rêvoir for the present.
Your Loving Brother
E.S.McI.
No time to read over
[Written at top and side of page 1]
Remember me to all the folk in Dunedin. Lottie & tell those that I have not written too that I will do so some day. Hutton is doing & looking well, so are Jack & Hugh. I never get much time to yarn to any of them. Get hauled across the coals if seen conversing too freely them, so have to do so in the dark. Got your letter Lottie with the inevitable across the cornor, & yours Kate along with photos. E.S.McI.
I nearly forget to let you know that I got yours also Jeanie, none from Orepuki yet.
