Letter from Roy Bruce to Maud Bruce

Really I am ashamed of the
skimpy letters I send you when I read your
very interesting epistles. Here am I surrounded
with some of the most interesting historical
spots in the world and for the life of me
I cannot describe them on paper. It is a
great pity for you, because you would simply
revel in all this.

All that I have read & heard
about the charm of the desert so far I
must admit I have not experienced.I
can however well understand that it would
be very fascinating for some people, like
mountains or the seas are for others.
Personally I cannot find romance in
dust and when one lives in dust,
dust in everything, food, clothes, etc for weeks
at a time one longs for a little mud.
But this winter is superb. sunshine
all day long, there has not been more than
3 points of rain since we arrived & only one
gale of wind- The summer must be very
trying though, because it is quite warm

now in the daytime.

Last Sunday afternoon Pinkie & I went
to see his cousin. They have a very nice
house at Gezirah a suburb of Cairo principally
devoted to the English colony. Very pretty streets
with trees along them & lovely gardens- It
was so nice to get into a civilised house
again and to have afternoon tea a l'Anglaise
once more- They are both very nice & there
are three dear little children. Two girls & a
boy, the youngest girl about 3 years old I think
with intervals of about 2/3 years between the
others- We are going there to dine on
Sunday. Everyone dines here at 8 o'clock &
no music halls or anything except continuous
picture shows start before 9:30. Supper
restaurants remain open till 2a.m. &
are usually full between 12.30 & that hour.
Cairo reminds me a little of Paris except
that it is more so is you know what
I mean. I like sitting on the balcony of
the Grand Continental hotel , a huge & gorgeous
strcture, the rival of Shepheards , & watch the
morning crowds that wander by. Perhaps in
half an hour one can see every nationality
excepting German at the present time.
Arabs in magnificent robes, Egyptians, many

in European dress but al wearing the
Harbosch or Jez- Guides soliciting employment,
hawkers selling bread, wine in goat skins,
walking sticks, lottery tickets, newspapers,
postage stamps (mostly forgeries) beads, jewellery,
cigarettes, shawls, carpets, handkerchiefs, scent,
soap in fact almost anything can be
bought from these hawkers, who are all dirty,
dressed in Arabian costumes, all shades of colour
from the almost ebony Nubian & Soudance to
the almost yellow Egyptians- They are all
rogues, but at first picturesque till one gets
tired of their importunities- I forgot to add
beggars, & in some cases more pitiful sights
are hard to imagine. Doubtless some are
genuine, their principal appeal for alms is
either a deformity or a disease or a child of
about 12 carrying a baby which may or may
not be hers- I was almost forgetting the
boot blacks, small boys, clad in a single
garment who run in & out amongst the
peoples legs with their blacking kits urging you
to get your boots cleane for 1/2 piastre (1 1/4).
So much for the pavements- Natives on donkeys.
Europeans on bicycles. a hawker with a barrow,
a gorgeous limousine car with a woman in it carrying almost a fortune on her back,
the latest Parisian robe & hat, cabs (arabeyah)
driven by natives, with usually two lean arab
horses, who go all day under the whip & never
seem to tire. The cabs are all victorias- There
is no speed limit in Cairo & the shouting that
goes on is quite amusing- Virtue and vice,
riches & poverty are here in greater contrast
than in any place I have yet visited. You
would enjoy it, but everything is very expensive,
and unless one is very wide awake one is
had right & left. Add dashes of colour to the
above picture, the streets as bright or brighter at
night than in the day since with electric
light etc, and you may get some faint idea
of the main thorough fares of Cairo by night.

The native quarter I have already attempted
to describe & there remains the indoor life of
this mixture of nationalities- This is hard to
get at. Your rich Egyptian lives his own life
inside his own house, with his harem secluded
from outside eyes. I should much like to
penetrate into one of these abodes. From what
I hear from those who have seen some. they are
magnificent-

This letter should reach you before your birthday.
old girl. I hope you will have some little
festivity on that day all for yourself. Up
to now yo are certainly having a rotten
time. Here am I. wintering in the most
interesting country in the world. seeing things
that as a rule are only obtainable by the
rich ones of this world, & getting paid for it.
Truly it is the way to live, and nothing
would be wanting if you were to share
it with me.

There are rumours going around of a
move shortly to Palestine to scatter the Turkish
army there. I do hope it is true, everyone is
getting a little stale here now and the men
are very tired of the forced in action, consequently
discipline is to a slight extent suffering.

An interruption here, and as usual I
have had to leave this for a couple of days.

This morning we had a powpow with
the General, and he told us that it would
not be very long now before we were sent to the
front. That on no account would we go before
we were absolutely fit and he was glad to say
the time was fast approaching when we would
be fit. That means Europe about the beginning
of March I should think, unless this Turkish

invasion of Egypt amounts to anything, and I
am very sceptica, wheb we might move at
any time.

Separately I am sending you a few
photographs which I think you will find
interesting- They were taken by Major Hutton
& Rhodes , they lent me the films and I have
these copies taken off- I will send some more
soon. Hammond has some. The one of the
Ramse . head is more or less unique when you
realise that the colossus is lying on the ground
& it was taken from a little gallery on top
by up ending the camera- very lucky that
it came out at all.

The reinforcements are expected here in
a few days. How long Hardy Man carrow
will last among the "flesh pots of Egypt " I
don't dare to prophesy-

From what we can gather from notes
sent to us from Europe , all the fighting is
done in the trenches. You dig yourself in
& stay there for a few days & then go back
& recuperate- Perhaps by the time we arrive
there we shall be able to advance more
generally & have an opportunity to use our
horses- This is going to be a long war-
Germany has without doubt the best army

in the world, and we are not going to
shift it for a long time. I think the
fighting will be far harder when we begin
to get a foot into Germany .

By the way I hope you did not have
to pay any duty on that parcel I sent you.
We are told here that gifts from Egypt will be
admitted duty free. If you did pay any.
try & get a refund.

Colonel Findlay has been ill for some
time with an abscess in the wear; I believe
it will be a little time before he is well
again. I am beginning to doubt whether he
will ever lead us in the field, he does not
seem at all a strong man. In the mean-
time we have Major Overton acting O.C.

Thank you very much for the papers.
They are greatly appreciated, but unfortunately
there is not a great deal of time to read
them.

I am afraid at present I have very
little time for the study of military law. It
is all field work day after day & on most
evenings one is only too glad to get to bed
at 8 o'clock! I will however remember your
desire & act upon it when I can.

Yesterday I had a touch of lumbago

& Gunthrie is making me keep quick to-day,
threatens to send me to the hospital at the
Citadel to keep the Colonel company if it is
not better tomorrow, but I am bucking as much
as I can. Had a mustard plaster on for two
hours last night & my back is raw today. I
hope it is alright tomorrow.

Have just received your letter announcing
you had received my cable. That is well.

Sorry you don't like my moustache,
really it is not so bad. I believe most people
think it an improvement.

You cannot have received all my
letters yet- I sent an account of the capture
of the - I suppose the old censor has
held it up, doubtless they will arrive by
degrees.

I am sending you some lines I cut
out of an English paper here, they seemed to
me to be not bad & they might give you some
ideas, very likely you have already seen them.

[change of pen color] I am so glad Helen is such a
comfort to you, dear little child, I miss you
both dreadfully here, & just long to be at home
once more, I am very much afraid it will
be a considerable time before we are together
again. Never mind dear, the time will go

quickly enough & we shall look back upon
all this as a refiner's fire-

Pinkie is finding that indulgence in
the "flesh pots of Egypt make great inroads into
his purse, and just at present he is very
downhearted. I have some of the loveliest
stories to tell you about him, I do wish I
could commit the to paper.

I had a letter from Webb to-day
from England , he seems quite alright except
for his handwriting- He talks of going back'
to New Zealand about the end of January.
He says England is just a vast camp, soldiers &
always more soldiers. He hopes to be able to pick
up an agency or two before he goes back-

We don't get a great deal of war news
here, the Egyptian papers have not much to say
for themselves. We pay (the mess) 10/-p. month &
get all Reuter's cables sent here so we really hear
all that is important.

I am rather surprised to hear that
Bowie is coming along, I did not expect he
would. What about Nicholls . has he got an
appointment yet?

You don't say anything in your
letters about your money affairs- I do hope
they are alright- I would like to send you

more, but everything here is so fearfully
expensive that until we get into the field
and far away from standing camps. I am
afraid it will not be possible.
Your story of Craigie & the combinations
was lovely. I wish I could make my
letters more amusing but I never seem to
be able to write down anything funny

Tell Helen she is not to expect letters
from me every time I write to you, but
I will write to her as often as I can-
If I write to her every time & then perhaps
am forced to miss a few times it will
make it much harder for her later on- Now
they will always be a surprise. I am
sending one this time.

Goodbye for the present, dearest of wives.
perhaps next time I write we shall have
some definite news of

Kiss me darling many many times
you & Helen are all I have in this world.
God bless you both always. Roy .