CHRISTMAS IN EGYPT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 28, 3 February 1915, Page 6

CHRISTMAS IN EGYPT.

(Sydney Daily Telegraph.) Mena Camp, Cairo, December 27, 191-I.—Christmas, 1914, will live in the memory of the oldest inhabitant of Cairo as the merriest and brightest on record. The city was literally packed with soldiers determined to enjoy themselves To-their heart’s content. They filled the best restaurants and cafes, and places of amusement, and sh?g e l d'in an,unbroken stream through the main streets. Sir George Reid arrived oil Christmas Eve, and had ocular proof of (he fact that the men from the Commonwealth are not down, hearted.

Chiefly because they spend their money so freely—it is computed that over £4OOO. was .disbursed by them daily during Christmas week—the Australasians,ijami infinitely more popular with the people than the poorly paid “Terriers,’’ who welcome any opporglides to their more fortunate comrades., t ‘On■ J Friday afternoons all sorts of conveyances were requisitioned .To. deal with the throng of pleasure-seekers from Mona and Heliopolis. Taxis and motor cars, as many as ten and twelve men in each, wgro .most favored. Others 1 rode camels at the risk of becoming “seasick,” while scores more mounted on.donkeys, the riders using their swagger sticks to some purpose, The natives could only look on. afe-’the spectacle in- openmotxthod wonderment. They afe convinced that Australia is a land of untold,wealth. r Scares of men returning to camp on Christmas Eve carried turkeys, geese, and ducks in their arms. These were duly decapitated and handed over to the cooks. On Christmas Day each man of the 3rd battalion was-supplied with a small 'pliim ''phd’diiig, and three bottles of wine—a fairly good claret—-were issued to each section. The intention was to supply beer, but it was discovered just in time that the stocks of this agreeable commodity were by no moans equal to the demand.' As 1 write, no beer is available at any of the canteens in canrp, must perforce fall back on water or a verv inferior kind of lemonade.

stringent measures have had to bo taken with men overstaying leave or breaking camp; while Shephcard’s and the Continental, the two leading hotels, have been placed out of bounds. The camp has been transformed into a kind of miniature Zoo. The men have been bringing out young pet rabbits, while rats, ferrets, and canaries, with an occasional mongoose and monkey. All pets are well cared for. The native newspaper vendors, who come shivering through the lines atj reveille, are a never-ending source of i amusement. Having shouted “Gyptian Mail” or “Times,” their English vocabulary generally fails them. However,! they, are shrewd fellows, and ask our' men to give them a second catch line! ° ) to shout so as to promote sales. The; catch line given is made up of two or; three words never heard in polite so-1 ciety, but the guileless paper hoys,; learning them in a second, dash off and yell them out all over camp. To say the least, the effect is sometimes verey startling.