LETTERS FROM EGYPT.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1917, Page 7

LETTERS FROM EGYPT.

IN THE LAND OF THE ANCIENTS. NEWS OP TARANAKI BOYS' DOINGS. T'ooper "Tapp" O'Neill, of Urenui, writing to \lr. Tlios. Buchanan, of Waitaia, under dates of Nov. 14 and 22, says:—So far lam fortunate enough to have kept A 1 in health. I expect you naAe heard that Cliff Tate is in hospital \v,th malaria. So far I have not been aole to find out which of the hospitls he is in. and am still enquiring. Since writing in September we have been lo'tunate enough to have had a month's rest, which was spent in Alexandria, and we made the most of it. During the hot v. tather in the desert our wardrobe haa been almost of the Adam style, but one thing that was missing was the Eve. The horses picked up wonderfully during our holiday ami were as fresh as young tolts. There were some exhibitions of niekjumping by some of them. Tha ' worn out horses have been replaced by remounts, our first batch being turned ( 0,,t fw a long spell, which they well dejLryed. Those we have now are more like light harness horsc9 than hacks, thia being necessary as the average load > about 20 stone, that is an list man and nine stone of dunnage. , Usually we cn-ry some ;erim which ii made into a bivouac at night to keep the dew off. We are now out on the desert further away thai: ever, and I anticipate we shall be there for another six months. Our position now is that we are about four times the distance from Urenui to New Ply mouth from the Canal, following the old caravan route which runs parallel to the Mediterranean coast, on an average of from Waitara to Urenui from the sea. This caravan route is claimed to be one of the oldest roads in the world. It was used by the ancients thousands of year* ago. IVlosriS and his tribo came along part of it and I am not at all surprised at his having- left Egypt if it was then anything like it is in the present day. Julius Caesar used it in his conquest of Egypt. Ruins of the old Roman cities are to be seen still, also their wells and I pottery works. Napoleon came along it. The Virgin Mother and Child escaped to Egypt along it, and now the Anzaes are using it. The Ark is supposed to have landed at no great distance from it whilst the supposed site of the Garden of Eden is in these regions. Moses received the Commandments on Mount Sinai (if I remember rightly), so you may judge the locality is very historical.

FAST RAILWAY BUILDIN'G. A railway is following close on oiu hoes and is being built at tlio rate of ft mile per (lay., This is an absolute fact. I have seen the work done at that ra.e where the going is reasonably level. There are about 2000 niggers working on it, mostly Egyptian Army Reservists. TMs railway will probably' be the cause of more fighting between us and Wi» I urns in the near future. Possibly ere this reaches New Zealand papers "may tei! you of some of our fighting, as we expect a ''smack up" now any time. Not a horse or dray is used for tiie construction of the railway, the niggers carrviiv* the sand for embankments, etc., in small baskets about 50 lbs. They are like a small colony of ants working, jabbering the whole time. The engine with materials, etc.; follows up within 50 feet of the rails as they are spiked down. Some going, eh! fluite a contrast to what I have seen the Yanks laying"down railways, most of the excavation being done by them with steam shovels, etc. Q.iitc a number of Taranaki boyjl are in the same troop as I. Dave Aebstcr (Urenui) is our Sergeant, Fulton and a brothr of Abel Gamlin ("ne lias since unfortunately made the great sacrifice) is in the troop, as well as a number of others. The cow-jockevs are well represented. By the way, I 'might mention a little incident that hanpened t.i one of our boys reeentlj whilst enjoying his bully beef and bread. When spreading the beef on his bread he found a small fish hook with sharp prongs "both ends" and bent double. If he bad had the misfortune to have swallowed it ihe chances are that it would hay proved fatal. He is having the sent home to be mounted. This is ,«dl the first instance of fish honks havhij! been found in bully beef of America* manufacture. The general opinio? '< that this is the work of some Go- n>i in the canning factories We still have our daily "hate" i- ltl '

form of Taubes dropping a few pills (bombs) each day. Yesterday our squadron of aeroplanes (20. I believe) bombed biases out of the Turkish camps, etc.. not many miles from here. Our anti-craft puns compel the Taubes to keep from 8000 to 10.000 feet in the air, NO PICNIC, The day following', November 15, the writer says:—We have moved further o-'t iito tiic- desert, only IS miles from El Arish, the Turkish base, and are now 70 miles from the coast. We saw the Mediterranean Sea yesterday. Relieve tue "e art. bavin" no picnic out hero, nnd onh one l-.iglit in throe do' we get a. good sleep till 4 o'clock in the jnornJhe otlici two we are out on night patrols and outposts as we are at any time expecting to come in contact with the J urkish petrols. AA c have always to he prepared for surnrise attacks at nignt by the 'lurks. There is no fresh meat here. Our rations consist principally of bully tcef. bread, marmalade nnd tea. Water is at its bare issue—a bottle for 24 hours, \\hilst writing I can hear our planes bombing the Turks.

THE MAILS. Under date i.f November 22. Trooper O'Neill savs:-Your letter of May'.lo airi' cd yesterday after about six month' wandering somewhere in France. This is easily understood as in typhi" the address you put on the. envelope' N.Z.R.B. by mistake. T am enclosing the envelope.This will show von now that the Post Office authorities at this end make every endeavor to find the owner. I have of late months always received my mail regularly No doubt now the postal officials know where the several units a>'e, and that is moj-e than they did some eight months ago, as at that firitt most of the mountcds' mail .vent to Frmce or England. Things nt. present are just: about the same though there is every evidence of an early mix up with Johnny Turk (this has'since occurred much to J.T.'s discomforting. All depends on how far he will allow us to proceed on our journey to—somewhere. No doubt your papers will ere this have told you haw our aeroplanes squad-on knocked '''blazes" out of the Turkish camps and aerodromes not many miles from here (somewhere in Sinai) We have not seen our dailv "hate"—Tai;bes-~for over two weeks, which is very unusual for us, so evidently our planes must have put, them clean out of action for the time being. The railway is still being pushed on. It will be a permanent railway nnd connect Egypt with a place famous in the Bible. Also it w ; ll be largely patronised by tlie Mohammedans 011 their pilgrimage to Mecca, .there being million, of thwn in these parl-s

■Just now (herd 1 is a famine of tobacei ami writing material. This is, owing to our being m.able to buy any reserve stock as we are many miles from any canteen, though rumor says t.liat next week one i-.. going to be erected by the Y.M.C.A. (who do valuable work in this respect) about 20 miles from where we are at present We pet up al 4.10 and stand to arms until li 30. horses saddled and ready to move off at a. moment's notice. At the tiirc of writing we are allowed to take our clothes off one night in three,

1 do not thii.k the mounted men wib | now be allowed to leave Egypt. Most of tis have nmric application for transfer' to France, but the heads turn us down. T think the war is good for. another twelve months at least judging by preparations. Some of the private Christmas gifts nave begun to arrive, and it is evident that New Zealand friends know what is mostly wanted. I saw one package opened which contained a great assortment even to a tooth brush, and so well was it packed that the owner failed to get all his good things in again when he tried to do. so. T expect the Christmas gifts and billies will arrive in a month's time, but T am doubtful if our little Marys will stand the strain of all the good things the people of Neiv Zealand are sending, after our plain but nourishing desert bill of fare. Anyhow T intend to risk it. Have just heard of <'ne unfortunate, death of Watty Ruchlc-r, late schoolmaster at Urenui. He was a good fellow and will be missed in Urenui. The following day he write.-*:—Have moved a little further ■ out into the desert and our latest, instructions are that no man is allowed to undress at night. He must be fully clothed, and ; sleep-even with his bandolier on.

lanee Corporal Cliff Tate, who 'bad the misfortune to be laid aside with malaria, fc now in the Aotea Neiy Zealand Convalescent Home near Cairo. He is progressing favorably and speaks highly of tlie attention and kindness received. He says it is a home away from home in every respect, and ever 'amusement is provided for those unlucky enough to bo there. His great regret is at missing the "stunt" that the men appear, to know is in viow—El Arish attack. The writer forwarded a snapshot of the squadron football team, included in which* are the figures of Jlorsel.ead and Jim Hughes, both of whom have paid the great pride.