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[Page 135]
by army concert parties. The [indecipherable] situated here makes men pay through the nose for refreshments & if the Empire Club was not here, the place would not be worth visiting by rank & file. The three best hotels are reserved for officers , though the Continental is a fair hotel for meals – where most of the men congregate. Soldiers receive a glassy eye in this place, the other ranks being out of the fun & the people seem to ignore us & forget that we are human beings in khaki. De Lessep's statue is erected on the esplanade, which runs about half a mile out in the Med. Sea. He built the Suez Canal & also of Panama fame. Scores of aero & sea planes are flying about daily & no less than five gun boats were anchored here. Taubes visited this town on Sept.19th. 1916, killing 7 & wounding 20. The native portion of this place is disgusting & impossible for one to describe.
Minia
This town of upper Egypt is a fine place, very pretty & we spent a happy week under canvas on the racecourse. This was during the Senussi scare & we went to various outlying villages with the regiments as medical personnel. I went with a detachment to [indecipherable], 18 miles from Minia & we were able to get an insight into the lives of the Egyptians. They were very hospitable to us & delighted to see our troops enter their villages, one fellow giving us a show with his trained horses whilst we halted for lunch. The villages have the appearance of rude fortification, as the houses & huts were built in