SOLDIERS’ LETTERS

Evening Star, Issue 23683, 17 September 1940, Page 11

SOLDIERS’ LETTERS

INTERESTING DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT HISTORY IN OLD STOKE Interesting sketches of the country of Egypt are given in a letter received from ' a Dunedin soldier with tboN’cw Zealand forces. Writing of a trip to the Wadi Natrum, which is about 130 kilometres west of the Pyramid of Giza, ho says that at one time there were over a. hundred convents studded along the sides of the valley, but now there were only.four monasteries. By caravan the ancient Egyptians used to transport the nitre from the valley to use in embalming. Monks and hermits had inhabited the valley since the fourth century—it was a good place ior a monk to live, but for no one else. From the road one could get glimpses of salt lakes away to the right, but with the beat waves dancing in the air it was sometimes difficult to know whether they were lakes or just mirages. During an afternoon they had a good trip, and came in sight of the great pyramid of Giza, and at Mena they turned to the left down the main road from Giza to the Nile—across the Nile, and to the right and up to Maadi. The road from Maadi to Cairo along the Nile was well raised above the surrounding country, which was flooded bv the river. There were still plenty of crops to bo cut before the floods came— sugar, maize, cane, cotton, etc. Mersa Matruh, tho capital of the western desert province, looked lovely from the hills above the town. Jhe harbour or lagoon was four or five miles long, and a mile and a-half- or two miles wide. With its beautiful clear water and white sand, it was a delightful place for bathing. There was an hotel right on the beach—he heard that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor had stayed there. At one time Antony and Cleopatra went to Mersa _ Matruh. There were the ruins of a big Homan villa, with its steps leading down to the water’s edge. , , , „ Mersa Matruh was supposed to have the coolest summer in Egypt, out in winter it received drizzling ram and real downpours. It was an ideal climate from March to December, ihe writer hoped he would not be there during the rains, as he could imagine what the mud would be like. Sponge fishing was carried on along the beach, and liere and there one could pic£ up pieces of sponge. . .. • There was a <rood library and reading and writing room here, with a refreshment tent alongside and a lawn under the trees with chairs and umbrellas up. It was run by the ladies of Maadi for tbe soldiers. , , , „ . Describing the Citadel at Cairo in another letter, this soldier said it was an immense pile of buildings. It was called the alabaster mosque. Outside it was covered with alabaster, and inside on both sides of the altar were immense alabaster pillars. The dome wqs 140 ft high, and Was a wonderful work of art. Outside the main dopr was a paved courtyard and a fountain where the worshippers washed their faces, feet, and hands before entering the mosque for prayer. Tho New Zealanders* were given slippers to put over their boots before entering the courtyard. Behind the mosque was the old palace of Mohammed All, now unused and fallipg into decay, though the paintings on tho walls were still quite gdod. From the windows of the’ palace one got a marvellous panoramic view of Cairo. - The tall minarets of the Mohammed Ali mosque were visible for miles. They were 250 ft high, and looked very slender. From the' palace windows one could see the Nile and the pyramids of Giza, and away to the left Maadi and the pyramids of Sakkhara. . . The main buildings and walls of the Citadel were very, old and built to stand tho march of time. The thin slits in the walls for archers or guns recalled the wars of old. One realised what tales those walls could tell—the marching feet of conquerors and conquered had echoed through the archways, and probably prisoners built the immense walls and battlements and laboured generally or languished in the dungeons. It was when one thought of the ago of these buildings and saw the steps worn down by, cpuntless thousands of feet that one realised how old they must be.