[Page 71]
find out where Leo [brother] is stationed.
The wait for a tram was long & tiring & we were about to go somewhere else when one tram came along. Ol got a seat but we had to stand thro' the hour's run, practically all the passengers being in uniform, that is the 1st class passengers.
It was a very interesting ride, the first part being thro' the city to one of the bridges across the Nile. In the streets were scores of interesting scenes, cafes with the tables & seats extending out on to the footpath, dozens of donkeys with the rider perched over the rump or else harnessed to carts or waggons, in other cases loaded with huge piles of Egyptian lucerne, one on each side, one on each side, vendors of native food made up into rings about the size & shape of an iron quoit or of lemonade etc carried in a large earthenware or brass vessel with a dozen pr more brass drinking flagons attached to it, & so on.
The Nile is spanned by a very fine steel bridge, the stream being abt 100 yds wide at the point: the centre of the bridge is pivoted & can be raised somewhat like the Pyrmont Bridge to allow of vessels passing through. A number of dhows moored against the bank or slowly moving in the stream looked very picturesque with date palms & Egyptian flat or domed houses along the banks. Two fairly large boats with paddle wheels, exactly like the pictures commonly seen, were also noticed.
Arrived at the opposite bank we found ourselves on an island made by the branching of the river at this point, the island being under cultivation for the most part, & seemingly being very fertile.