Your letters are coming along
by degrees. Nos 1.2.4.5.6 are here, No 3 has
not yet arrived. Some papers have also arrived.
It is good to hear from you and to know
that you are alright, and to also know that
for a little time at least there is a prospect
of hearing regularly from you.

You mention in one of your
earlier letters that you had not received any
money from the Government. I am sure you
will have received it by now, but if you
have not, get Finch to shake them up. It
was to be addressed to you c/o Perry Perry &
Kimmency.

I don't think you need worry
about Mrs Taylor having any ulterior motives
in cultivating your friendship. From what I
know she is a woman without many friends,
in fact I think Mrs Norman was about the
only one she had. There is no reason why

you should not appeal to her.

Your letters are most fascinating,
there is such a lot of detail in them
of the rie intunie that makes me quite
ashamed of my cursory epistles. I cannot
describe things on paper, if only I could
I could write volumes about this country.
Last Sunday we had a great expedition.
Six of us, Hutton , Mayne , Blackett , Barker ,
Dailey & myself, made an excursion to the
site of the oldest known city in the world,
Memphis . We started from here about 8
o'clock & trained & motored to the Pyramids,
there we found our guide & 6 camels we
had chartered & off we went. First of all
we visited the tomb of Ihi who was a
king 5000 years ago. It was a sort of
temple hewn out of limestone nearly all
underground, containing various names with
pictures carved on the walls representing
episodes in his life. These are outlined in
colours and on several walls the colouring
is still almost as clear as when it was

done, mostly in red. The sarcophagus is
also there a huge block of solid granite with a
top. The mummy is in the Egyptian museum
at Cairo . From there we went to the large
tomb where the sacred bulls were buried. This
is another wonderful structure hewn out of
the rock underground, with long galleries
with pits on either side each pit holding one
sarcophagus. There are 24 in all, huge blocks
of stone, in some cases polished & engraved with
hieroglyphics. We took candles & burnt magnesium
wire at intervals to light up the place. There
is a sublime grandeur about these works which
makes one marvel as to what kind of people
these were who could conceive such things.
We had lunch here & afterwards mounted our
camels & went on to Memphis . The site of
Memphis is now covered by palm groves, small
ponds of water & a small native village.
Excavations here up to the present have not been
very extensive principally owing to lack of funds.
All that has been unearthed are two huge
colossi of Ramses II. In both these the body &
head are perfect but the legs are broken. To give
you an idea of their size, the six of us stood easily on the body & then had room to move
about. The carving is wonderful & the expression
on the face defies description. Cruelty, arrogance,
dignity, pride, power are all contained in a
few lines, in the clean shaven face. There is
also a small sphinx which has recently
been uncovered but beyond its age is not
very wonderful. The figures of the colossi are
white limestone & the chiselling on the dress
is picked out in red. From there we
to the Badrashein railway station & trained
back, ending a most interesting day.
Our experiences on camels were funny. It
was alright when we were walking but
when they began to trot, ye gods, little fishes,
jolt, jolt, bump, bump, both hands hanging
to the pommel, & no steering gear that would
act, & the animals did not understand
English & we didn't understand Arabic & the
more we swore the faster they went & the
more the boys whacked them. One old bird
by the wayside tried to sell me some spurious
curios & when I wouldn't buy gave my camel an almighty welt & off he went at top. Between
laughing at others & cursing at your own camel,
things were quite amusing for the first hour,
till we got the hang of them a bit. In all
we did about 12 miles on them, and we were
very stiff & sore next day. I don't think I
shall join the Camel Corps. I should like to get
a really good camel & know how to ride it
properly, I think then it might be a very
pleasant means of locomotion.

Another of your letters turned up yesterday,
No 7. No 2 is still travelling around somewhere.

No 7 is dated Nov 30. You say a friend
of Miss Dryden 's saw us going through Suez . Why
we were going through Suez the day your
letter was written! He must have mixed us
up with some Indian transports. There were
36 transports & 3 warships with us.

I am sorry to hear of Miss Watts ' brother,
I hope something definite has been heard from him.
Blackmore still performs & stands on his
head at intervals. I ride him on short journeys
sometimes but he tires me out, perhaps some
day he will be more tractable. I am not

parting with him, I have two others & he
may get alright some day.

Gold Bird survived the journey & now
lives at Brigade Headquarters, I have not
seen him since he left the ship, but Hawkins
says he is well.

So far as actual routine is concerned
it is not very interesting to write about.
Things go on fairly smoothly here now.
The troop is gradually becoming a troop, they
are a very good crowd all round & certainly
try to do their best, of course there are
always a few who spoil things.

I reduced Corporal Gillingham to the
ranks a little while ago, to that gentleman's
great astonishment. I believe he was really
hurt.

Sorry you are having a bad
time with the dentist, hope it is all over
long ago.

We had a night out in the desert
the other night? Started off in the morning
to march on the Sewage Farm, which is a
Government experimental farm in the desert

about 13 miles from here. We arrived safely,
put the horses in an old prison yard & then
we had afternoon tea with the manager, an
Englishman named Sellars & his wife. It was
nice to get into an English house again. We
spent quite an interesting hour before we went
back to the / men , & bread & bully beef in the
open.

After tea we put up a line of outposts
in the desert. The men dug trenches & took it
in turns to keep watch. I found one blighter
of mine, (the Geraldine namesake) sound asleep at
2 o'clock in the morning. I stole his rifle &
those of the other 3 men belonging to his post, &
got them away without waking anybody up.
Needless to relate what happened when they
did awake - I don't think that youth will
sleep again on his post.

The desert is not bad to sleep on when
it doesn't blow. About 5 o'clock in the morning
a cold wind arose which later increased to a
dust storm. It was very unpleasant. Work was
impossible you could not see 50 yards away.
I was sent back with the Squadron to camp

while the others remained to see if it would
clean up & they could do some mapping.
I never had such a ride before. It took
me 4 hours to do 12 miles & it was not
all desert as I cut into a plantation for
part of the way. Sand, grit & stones in our
faces. You could have built a pot (chimney
of course) with the bricks I took out of my
hair.

There are various rumours going about
to the effect that we are shortly making
a move to Syria to look for Turks. But
I can hardly credit it. Unless something
unforeseen occurs I do not think we
shall leave here before the beginning of
March & then we will probably go straight
to France .

I think we are very fortunate in
coming to this place, as from all accounts
it is a very bad winter in England .

Training proceeds apace, we work
from 5.30am to 5pm & then sometimes

go out for a night ride. We ought to be
fairly presentable soon.

The Australians are getting a very bad
name here. I am thankful to say the
Egyptians have learned to distinguish between
Australians & New Zealanders. Really our fellows
are behaving excellently. They have their own
liquor canteen (what will the wowsers* say) &
are allowed to go out every night. I have not
seen any drunk yet in Cairo , but with the
Australians it is a common thing.

I never have any time to
myself now hardly, and this letter has been
waiting to be completed for several days.

There has been no opportunity
to get your cat yet, but as soon as possible
I will send it on, also some photographs
taken by some of the others which I think
you will find interesting.

I do want you so much to
have a good old yarn, there are so many
things to talk about & tell you, there is no one
here I can really let myself out on.

We are going for another trek

soon, regimental this time & will
probably be away several days.

The High Commissioner was out here
yesterday & have us the usual political
Sons of New Zealand etc etc speech - They
make me sick.

It has been decided owing to the
heavy casualty list amongst officers to
dress us more like the men in the field,
and in future we are to wear bandoliers
& puttees, & all buttons are to be darkened.

Today we had the usual church
parade in the morning, & I have been
pottering round camp all day as it was
my turn to be left in - I am going to
bed now & I am going to close this
letter because if I wait till tomorrow
to add more I may have no time &
goodness knows when it will get finished.
The few weeks we have spent here have
flown like so many days, all the better
we will sooner be together again.

Goodnight
my darling, be happy, give Helen my love & a
kiss. You both have all my love dear hearts,
& I know I have yours. It is a great blessing just now
- Roy -