Item 01: Irene Victoria Read letters from her husband, 27 November 1914-1 November 1915 - Page 97

[Page 97]

At night we passed some camps from which cheering & wild cooees issued – on enquiry we learnt that some of our Australian engineers were guarding this portion of the Canal.
Wednesday 13th January
Arrived Port Said 3 AM – we were awakened from our slumbers by the noise of the men engaged in coaling our ship. How differently they go about their work to the men in our own country. Five or six huge coal barges on either side of the ship to which they were connected by numerous running boards, and a constant stream of black humanity each with a basket of coal on his back & how cheerfully they go about their job.
At 11 AM we all got ashore & spent the day in doing the sights of the town. The arrangement that obtains in regard to the boatmen is an excellent one – you step into the boat from the ship & get rowed to the shore, arriving there a policemen assists you on to the landing stage & conducts you to a turnstile where you pay the boatman's fare (3d each person). This saves all the customary bargaining & disputes. Soon after landing we requisitioned the services of a more persistent dragoman or guide, got into a carriage & did the town. Amongst the places visited was the Mahomedan mosque – here we had to slip our feet into huge cane slippers which prevented the pollution of the sacred edifice.