Item 04: Letters sent by Robert Christian Wilson to his family, 1916 - Page 72
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 72]
[Pages out of order]
We arrived at Suez at about 5 AM on Tuesday anchored in the harbour for a little while and then came up alongside the wharf where we saw some Egyptians for the first time.
There was quite a mob of them there; all most dirty looking wretches and they would scramble in the dust for halfpennies if we threw them ashore to them; they seemed to be working under niggers gangers who carried good heavy whips and used to belt them like anything if they caught them loafing.
We did pretty well disembarking the horses, we had to lead them up a race from the lower deck to the top; then down another one on to the wharf and then accross and into the trucks and it just took us an hour and three quaters to do the whole 360 of them.
We were put on the train about six in the evening and started off for this place; and arrived at two in the morning.
The trains here are rather funny; there are no signals on the line except near big towns; so they go along whistling all the time and they keep stopping to let other trains pass them: our engine cleared out and left us once coming up here, I think it must have gone on to tell another train we were coming.
I have had rather bad luck the last day or two
Over