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tho' for what reason I cannot imagine. Prescott tells me that it is supposed to be supplied with water from the rock struck by Moses!
Close by were a number of tents occupied by Indians troops, Sikhs as far as I could see. In another place were a number of cows tied up close to the Mosque, making me wonder if they were sacred; the manure & rubbish was being shoved down a deep well which shows in one of my photos: it is fenced in & Ol is standing in the foreground.
From the Citadel we took the tram back to Cairo, had afternoon tea at Groppis & then returned to Pension Wales, which I left for camp abt 8 o'clock. In spite of the disappointment over the velouka it had been a very enjoyable day.
Saturday 11 March 1916
Another cool day, but much more overcast & cloudy than yesterday. On early morning parade & in forenoon in company lines, the 150 men of the company having been recalled from Cairo picquet the previous evening.
After midday dinner went to Pension Wales & decided to take a run out to the Zoo. This meant taking the tram going out to the Pyramids, a ride that I had previously described. The Zoo is abt ½ way out, & is fairly good. The outstanding impressions were the almost unbelievable lankiness of a beautiful male giraffe whose picture I tried to take, the great size & strength of a large number of vultures, & an intolerably restless hyaena which was in perpetual motion trotting round its cage.
The hippopotamus would not come out of the water while we were there but continued to swim round its pond, the swirl thus caused occasionally giving place to the massive head & piggish eyes. There were other things worth describing, but these are the chief. Anna would have enjoyed herself immensely.