Giles papers, 9 May 1914-13 May 1919 / Arthur Clyde Giles - Page 96
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[Page 96]
The funniest thing of the day though was the donkey race for officers. All had to compete.There were fourty donkeys hired for the event. To see the donkeys being bought across looked comical enough. There seemed to be no end to them. Well they had to run it in heats. The distance ¼ a mile. Conditions all officers had to wear an eye glass &: the man that lost his glass was disqualified. Well it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. You want to see the donkeys to fully appreaciate the event. They started some refused to go others ran off the coarase. Then the pace varied from a slow canter to an amble some were hardly that. Those that were just crawling along the crowd stood for awhile then in they went &: you should have seen the performances where ever they could find their hand to get a push they did. They got tired of that &: caught the hind legs mad a wheelbarrow of the donkeys. One came to grief &: lay there, I must say it was the funniest thing I have seen yet. The niggers were highly amused at the whole performance. Was a change for them to stand back insead of running along behind with a cane belting them along. We are all agreed it was the best day we have had since arriving here. The latest form of amusement here in camp is to blanket all the natives they can lay hands on.If you hear a native yelling at the top of his voice you know what is on. They get the blanket