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[Page 22]
4.
Consulate – paid in 5/- & got our passports.
Then we settled down to explore Marseilles, but I only had one day of comparative enjoyment there for the 2nd day Margaret developed a suspicious rash & as the Ship's Dr happened to be a drunkard who also drugged himself, I consulted with the Captain & he thro' the Agents got me a Dr Hawthorne, an Englishman who has resided so long in Marseilles that he looks like a Frenchman. He decided that it was measles & then the rotten Dr on the boat said "Well, turn them off the ship", but the Captain (Sturgess by name) was a brick & said he would'nt but that we must be isolated, so they shifted us & our belongings to a little deck house aft & there we stayed till we arrived here.
The isolation was rather a farce – we were not allowed to go forward of the 2nd last hatch & had to have all our meals on the deck aft, which was really nicer than in the saloon, but the passengers all came to visit us & played their games around our quarters & treated us all awfully nicely. Another day before we got to Pt Said I was asked to a Special Afternoon Tea on the boat deck which the passengers gave a farewell to Mrs Stanton, Mrs Oatley & me, as we were leaving the Ships the following day & the Captain said "oh damn the measles – you go to the tea fight" so I went.
While we were at Marseilles we saw a great many German prisoners at work on the docks – we used to see them marched off back to prison about 5 pm. There were about 150 of them or more, & they looked well fed & happy. & we saw 3 transports leave for the Dardanelles & did'nt we all flock to the stern & wave & cheer, & they sane "God save the King" in return for our cheers & we dipped our flag & shouted "au revoir" & "bon voyage" – after leaving there we had an uneventful voyage passing Stromboli about 3 pm one day – quite close only about 2 miles off. We could not see if the volcano were active as the top was wreathed in mist. It is just like a rounded pyramid rising out of the water & there are numbers of houses on its precipitous sides – rather a precarious sort of spot to plant ones home on & another day we passed thro' the Straits of Bonafazzio between Corsica & Sardinia about 2 pm both rugged looking mountainous islands with some large castellated looking houses at intervals & numerous light-houses.
Then later the same evening at sunset we went thro' the Straits of Messina. When last we passed thro' in daylight in 1910, it was not so long after the great earthquake & the whole place was in ruins – now on both sides of the Straits are new buildings & very little trace of the old ruins, indeed the big cities of Reggio (Italy) & Messina (Sicily) seemed flourishing once more. The breeze of the Italian coast was just like a breath from an enchanted island, it was heavy with the scent of orange blossom & indeed we could see countless orange groves as we passed along. We passed Crete also during the daytime but owing to a thick haze we saw it but dimly & could not distinguish any features except that it looked very mountainous.
We arrived at Pt Said about 4.30 & saw Will out on the Breakwater & he was first on board for he had arranged with the Health Officer to allow him to come out in his launch. We all fell upon him & almost devoured him & then we got our luggage off, said goodbye & landed.
Then I was glad of that French Pass-port for altho' it stated clearly on it that it was only for use in Marseilles the Officials at Pt Said, natives who could hardly speak a word of English altho' their French was fluent, let us pass on my pass-port. But Will had time in the Customs House we were allowed to go to the Casino Palace Hotel & there we stayed the night.
At noon the next day we got the train for Cairo & found it a most interesting run. The train first went along the canal & here we saw the Indian troops encamped & entrenched. We saw the trenches & dug outs at El Kantara where the Turks attempted to cross the Canal, the sand bag earthworks & the Stations protected by sand bags – it was our nearest approach to real live war. Then leaving the Canal we passed thro' a constant succession of fertile fields & picturesque villages – burying grounds & clumps of date palms – we saw herds of horses at work – carrying produce to market or turning water wheels or pulling the little carts which they use in threshing the wheat & everywhere this blooming garden & this in a country with an average rainfall of 1 inch (one).
Of course the wonderful system of irrigation & the magnificent soil brought down thro' the ages by the Nile has made this a regular land of milk & greenstuff (we have not yet seen any honey). The land carries an enormous population & returns four crops of lucerne a year. Cotton plants were flourishing & clover, also barley – quite golden. It was a lovely sight & even the dirty squalid villages looked nice & picturesque from the train.
The houses are nearly all made of bricks, made of Nile mud & dried in the sun, the lower story is fairly substantial but the upper is never roofed over & is used as a place for storing everything from manure downwards – & we even saw goats & chicken & geese with the children playing on the house tops.
We arrived in Cairo about 5 pm & drove to the Hotel Continental, a huge pile comfortable but very dear & here stayed for three weeks. Here Peter & Tingsey also developed Margaret's complaint & recovered from it again, & from there we moved to a flat & find it much more comfortable, much cooler & very much cheaper.
Socially Cairo is dead now, for during the Summer the Cairenes either go to Europe or Alexandria, but of course this year owing to the war there are still a good many