WITH THE "ANZACS" IN PALESTINE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3091, 23 May 1917, Page 6

WITH THE "ANZACS" IN PALESTINE

SCOTS OF BIBLICAL TIMES A PICTURE OF THE DESERT CAMPAIGN A res))onsible officer of the New.Zealand Mounted Division now serving in Palestine- forwards to a friend the following article, written by Frank Fcid (of Queensland) for the "Egyptian Mail." The article will interest many in NewZealand, not only by tho account it gives of this splenduTiy-cquipped desert army, but on account of the fine spiritual touch of tho writer. "In my little room in the Queensland bush when I was a boy," he writes, "there was a picture, a little- picture, that hung above my bed. It was tho picture of a woman and a. child riding upon a donkey, with a man walking by their side. It hung above my bed from the days of early childhood. It was the first picture that 1 ever remember seeing. I would look at it each night .as my mother taught me to say my prayers before going to bed, and 1 would look at it each morning when I said 'Our Father,' on awakening. I remember that picture when I first stepped on Egyptian soil. It was called 'The Plight Into Egypt.' .And one"night two thousand years afterwards I was one of many who passed over the same ground as the Child upon the donkey. As we left Bir-el-Mazar far behind us and rode over the sand dunes on the road to El Arisli that picture came before my eyes like 'a fleeting shadow. I saw them come out of the north, the woman and the Child upon the donkey, tho man hurrying by their side. And as I rode that evening, across the desert sands whitened by a big moon, 1 thought of the sufferings, the loneliness of those three on their terrible flight to the land of the Pharaohs. I though of those others who nad passed over the same sands in bygone days. In imagination I saw swordsmen and spearmen, traders and archers! Caravans of endless length and blackshawled men—the. shawled butchers of Feerish of the Face of Blood. They rode at a gallop, their swords held high. What a sight it must have been in those days now lost in the bosom of time. To see a brigade/of these warriors of the past mounted on swift running Bisharin camels, and racing across that barren stretch of sand between Bir-el-Mazar and El Arish must have been, the sight of a life time to those who witnessed the passing of such an army.

Other Footprints, "Centuries of years have passed since those spearmen with the great big-shank-ed spears, and the Syrian bowmen armed with Damascus blades that would take a giant to handle, passed over these sands. Dave you ever seen a moving shadow upon a white blind? AVell that is how our procession looked as it marched toward El Arish. There was an end-' less procession of horsemen, camels, infantry, artillery, and transport. As the procession of the warriors had been in the past, so it was again in the after years.

l'ar ahead, over those wind-swept sun-scorched sand dunes rode long, wirv oolomals who had crossed thousands of miles of ocean and hnd left the youngest iiation to fight the battles of the Motherland on the soil of the oldest nation in the world. And following close upon the rear of their column came men mounted on sturdy camels, and the white moon looked down upon the grim, determined faces of the riders who urged their desert-born animals forward so as to be near their comrades iu the front columns it their assistance were needed. A queer mixture of men were these of the Camel Corps who spoko of bygone days in Aus. tralia, New Zealand, England, and Scotland. They' had crossed the Seven Seaa to fight for right against wrong, and united in one unit they presented just as formidable an appearance as those Syrian bowmen of the past. And away to the right and close to the shores of the sea marched column upon column of the finest infantry in the world. Hour after hour passed, but there was no ending to that procession. Wow! It was a sight that would have gladdened' the heart of a Napoleon. Can one wonder why the Turks surrendered at Maghdaba and Itafa to such a glorious army? If we had bungled in the past, the time had come when we were to wipe out those blunders and avenge those comrades of ours who slept on Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia.

Perfectly-Equipped Army. "Never was an army better equipped and prepared for battle. And the men who rode and marched knew it, and realised that their generahj had carefully thought out a great advance which could only end in victory. Even tho Egyptian camel drivers as they saw the high spirits of the men and listened to their laughter chattered cheerily to each' other and urged their ammunition-laden animals forward so as to assist the men who were fighting for their freedom as well as that of our Empire. ."Never did the strains of distant music cheer those colonial-troops as they did that evening in Sinai. There was something weird in the unwonted sound as it pierced the stillness of the velvety night. And the infantry in tho rear sang songs which faintly readied .our ears, and tliere wero monieuts when we joined iu the chorus of some popular ditty. In that great desert with the strange silence which throttled the slighest noise the music and songs were good to the men who had patrolled the sand spaces for months without coming in contact with the enemy. They wero eager for fight, and the music made" their hearts beat faster and their desire for revenge increased as they approached their destination. The Enemy Retires. "We passed a score of palms that stood like sentinels, and waved their fronds as if trying to ward off the sunladen night winds. Tliere were lines of carefully hewn trenches running from the palms, but the men who had worked so hard to make them had heard of our coming and had retired. Midnight passed, but the riders still pushed on with eyes alert for the sight of the enemy. "Perhaps you have seen those quaintlooking sand-hills as/you approach El Arish! There are many of them, and vou climb one only to see another ahead of tou. Then just as yon begin to wonder if there is an end to these gigantic sand dunes vou peep down from the loftiest one of all, and there before you lies El Arish. We saw the white spire of the mosque first and then the cluster of houses, and the long belt of palms which fringe the sea. shore. Somewhore to our rear we thought we heard again the sound of distant music. Then the light of it new-born morning began to peep up from the eastern horizon and a nio-ht we shall all remember gave place to a dav of victory, and we rested where those tall, spearmen and sturdy bowmen had rested three thousand years ago, and whore, perhaps, the Child on the donkey had rested, the Child who had looked down on me'from that little picture my bedroom in far away Queensland.