Bell war diary, 16 December 1915 - 26 October 1916 / Roy Pinto Bell - Page 12

[Page 12]

arriving in camp it was raining. We had no tea and in fact the heads did not know that we were coming. However, we were bundled into a big tent without even a blanket and spent a pretty cold night.
Monday 24.1.16 – To-day we had to live on bully beef and biscuits and in the afternoon went for a route march seeing sights being led by a returned soldier. We first saw the obelisk at Matarich, which was built by Memphis in 1322 B.C. It is one solid pillar of rock 100 feet high – 50 feet being in the ground and 50 feet above. From here we went to a French Jesu Church called "The Santuary of the Holy Family in their flight from Egypt." "Sancta Familae in Aegypt Exsulia". The High Priest's altar is made of white marble and steps of alabaster, with a statue of the crucifixion in the middle and three candlesticks on each side, all of solid gold. The two altars of the second priests are made of cedar. The church is 103 years old and the paintings on the walls are exquisite (we signed our names in the Pilgrims Book) Next we saw Mary's Well which is the well from which Mary took a sip and it immediately turned fresh. This is proved by the fact that is the only naturally fresh water within a distance of 30 miles of that spot. The well itself is 150 feet deep and over 2000 years old. We naturally had a drink of the water which was quite fresh and not at all brakish. The sycamore tree under which Mary and Christ rested in their flight from Herod is near this well, and so many people carved their names on one limb that it broke off, but the main tree is still living, and is protected by a very pretty wooden fence. I should have mentioned that in the journey from Suez yesterday we had a good view of the country which up to the region of the Nile where the irrigation reaches is one long row of sand hills inland and the canal on the other side of the line. You can see very little of the canal until the Bitter Lakes are reached when the deep blue stretch nestling in the dazzling reaches of the desert formes a pretty sight, especially as it was adorned that day with a grim grey battleship,, accompanied by some more peaceful traders. We passed a tremendous camp at