Item 04: G. O. Hawkins letters to his family, 2 January 1915-November 1917 - Page 34
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[Page 34]
4
Leaving bare almost the complete torso and limbs of copper athelets [athletes]
They were like metal statues and yet splendidly unlike for there was life in them and in the bright sunlight of Egypt every copper muscle of their forms spoke with the beauty of movement
The movement of muscle and change in forms and pose of these copper and bronze [indecipherable] is almost finer than in the white. Shadows are deeper and high lights softer.
Camel after camel came out of one great ship, not marching out as from a Noahs Ark, but one by one in a string. The poor things swinging in the air before they landed looked the picture of helpless misery and when they reached the wharf swore frightfully.
The copper skinned people I have mentioned carried murderous looking knives in their waist cloths, like this [drawing of a J-shaped weapon] rough sketch, both edges of which were sharp.
Some of the quite black Negro-looking fellows carried daggers strapped to the backs of their left forearms
14/3/16
Here at Suez while I am busy and desiring all the time to be writing stories ad plays, I am continually catching a glimpse of a background to be remembered or the glare of sunlight in the foreground, or the vivid blue water of a middle distance.
And always to complete each rapidly seen picture is the picturesque presence and movement of Eastern humanity