A LETTER FROM THE FRONT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1412, 17 June 1915, Page 3

A LETTER FROM THE FRONT.

We have had the privilege ot reading a very interesting letter from Sapper Bridgewater, of the First Divisional Field Company, N,Z. Engineers, written to his mother, a local resident, prior to his departure from Egypt to the Dardanelles. He makes a brief reference to the canal engagement with the Turks. Although portion of the New Zealanders were under shell fire the Indian troops bore the brunt of the fighting. He refers to the environment of Cairo as wonderful. Where the New Zealanders were camped was nothing but sand, soft and hard as far as the eye can see. The only green to be seen is the cultivated patches along the low-lying lauds, watered by big canals from the Nile. Anything will grow, it it only gets water. The sand is dry as far down as one r ■ ‘ 'dig. It rains about once iu years and then only for a few hours. “We dread the sand storms here, one can’t see ten yards ahead for sand. It fills the eyes, nose, ears, clothes and tents and one is eating it with the food for days after. Every one get a severe cold after arriving, which lasts about a week, accompanied by dysentery. It is very hot and yet it is winter. The nights are bitterly cold and this tells on the boys’ health and many ot them have to go to the hospital. On one of the marches one of the New Zealanders dropped dead and about 500 fell out—knocked up by the excessive heat.” Referring to Cairo the writer says : “The population is about a million and very mixed. The Arabs come in from the desert with trains of camels. It is a great sight to see a caravan come in. Cairo is a very immoral place—one of the wo r st, if not the worst in the world and the women are awful and the place is swarming with them of all nationalities. Awful diseases are prevalent. It is unsafe to visit the Arab quarter after dark. One of our boys got shot in the leg, but it served him right, he should have known better. It is only the large garrison of soldiers quartered here which keeps the blacks down as they would rise iu a miuute if they got a chance. Some of the buildings are really beautiful and all have fiat roofs.” The writer has enjoyed good health not having had a day’s sickness, can “eat anything and sleep like a top aud as sunburnt as a nigger aud as hard as nails. The water supply is first class in the camp with shower baths for every company, but as soon as we leave camp the water trouble begins. We fill our water bottles every morning and a quart of water has to last us 24 hours, and by mid-day it is hot aud almost unfit to drink —but it is water and we treasure it more thau gold, I have seen fellows cry when b.. accident they have lost their water, for they can’t get any more till next issue, but they generally manage to get a mouthful from their chums. Any attempt to steal water from the water carts is punishable by death or imprisonment. Of course, in camp there is an abundance of water.” The writer continues, “there is no place like home and no country like New Zealand. Knocking about like this doesn't make one sentimental, but when lying out in the desert wrapped in my b'anket with the stars shining down on me my thoughts go back lo home.” The writer gives a very descriptive account of the pyramids and the work associated with his company.