STRANGE PATHS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 2, 3 January 1942, Page 5

STRANGE PATHS

AIRMAN'S ADVENTURE

A MAKATALA FEAST

Variety, no doubt, is the spice of an airman's life just as with any other life. A taste relished (with reservations) by one on service in the Middle East supplied a change from the usual routine and the'experience as a Court of Inquiry provided interesting material for one of this New Zealand air officer's letters to his parents. A padre, travelling by car in the Fayoum district, had knocked down a native, and, an inquiry being necessary, the air officer was appointed to investigate the matter. Padre and officer drove to the scene of the accident, the journey—from Cairo to Fayoum—being one of the best experienced by the airman in Egypt. The road followed the Nile arid passed through extremely rich country. It was made only of earth, but its surface was excellent. The journey held much of interest, but there was much more at its destination. "Our difficulty was to make ourselves understood, as no one seemed able to understand English," the air officer relates. Luckily, however, aid came from a postal officer, who offered to act as interpreter, and he was taken with them in .search of evidence. OPERATION INTERRUPTED. It was while the postal official was away making arrangements to accompany the visiting party on the round of, inquiry that the Air Force officer and the padre decided to go to the hospital and see if the victim of the . accident had been taken there. "Once again we could not make ourselves understood," the writer states, "but . we managed to convey to one of the orderlies that we wanted to see the doctor in charge. He took us through the building and knocked ( on a door. It opened, and to pur horror we found that, an operation was in progress inside.' "A man was stretched out on the table and he was surrounded by white-coated figures. We motioned violently that we did not want to disturb the business in hand, but it . did not matter. The doctor left what he was doing and came to the door. He could speak English, but we were so upset at having disturbed him at such an inopportune moment that we did not make ourselves clearly understood. From what we could gather, however, the injured man had not been admitted." ; The next move was to the village of Makatala, where the accident had happened. The facts of the case were reasonably simple. The man uiad been walking in the middle of the road, and, on running to one side, had then changed his mind and run back in front of the car. "The facts were one thing but the ■collection of evidence was another," states the writer. "Ahmed (the interpreter) soon brought xxs the news that the injured man had been taken to the Fayoum hospital and had died there that morning. .Everyone in the village ,was in a great state of excitement—not because the man had died, but on account of our presence." RICH MAN OF VILLAGE. The only independent witness to be found was one of the richest men in ..the village. He was the owner of 30 acres of land, he wore robes of silk ' and had servants. His house, to ' which the investigating party was invited, was, like other village houses, 'made of mud-bricks —mud mixed with straw and dried in the sun. From the outside it looked as ramshackle as any of the others; . shutters were "broken, and the whole place seemed such a ruin that one wondered whether anyone lived there. It was in the main room of. the house that the wealth of the host became evident. There was a carpet on the floor; there were four settees covered with clean white linen, and in the middle of the room was a rickety table. They were the complete furnishings. "The ceremonious cup of, coffee was brought," the narrator continues, "and we settled down to obtain a statement. Eventually the task was completed, and after the written statement had been translated back to our host he affixed his seal (he could not write). After more coffee he begged us to stay for a meal. Although I did not altogether relish the prospect,-1 did not wish to miss the experience. The padre was adamant^ he would not stay." WHAT A MEAL! It so happened that that was a "treat" in store for the next day. Cir- | cumstances made it necessary for a I Court of two members to deal with the case, since the man had died. "So back we had to go and repeat the whole business," the writer continues. * "This time we did have a meal with the rich man of Makatala. And what a meal it was! We dined in the hall, where a round table was covered with food. Knives and forks had been provided especially for us, as the natives eat with their hands and use the same dish. A servant poured water from a pitcher and we washed our hands. We sat down to eat "Ahmed had seen me eat eggs at Fayoum, so, thinking I liked them, he had ordered some for me. And there they were in front of me—fried eggs literally floating in fat! Not a very tasty-looking dish. I rescued one egg and.put it on another plate. There were two chickens on the table, so I called for one, Our hosts told us to tear our portion off the bird, but we could not forget the usage of the civilised world and attacked with our knives. "The natives certainly knew their stuff better than we did. The knives just bent themselves double on those .'chickens.' They could not even break the skin! In desperation we tore off a leg. And then we had to eat, or at least try, and look as though we were eating and enjoying it. Those birds looked like chickens, but they were fowls of the-rarest vintage. Apart from their impossible toughness, their flavour was not altogether suited to our palates. "There were several kinds of vegetables, and one quite good dish was of boiled cucumber, tomatoes, and meat—made into a sort of curry. Then, there was a wonderful-looking dish] exactly like a big bowl of mint sauce. Into this our hosts dipped pieces of bread which they proceeded to suck with noise and pleasure. This dish, I was told, was made from the water in which the chickens were boiled. To the water was added a kind of grass | which had been chopped up finely. I - was invited to try this, but I am afraid my enthusiasm to experience true Arab hospitality was beginning to wane. "The sweets consisted of .two dishes of rice. Both were good, but somehow I seemed to have lost my appetite. - It was a relief when the coffee was brought. ■ During the whole meal we had been surrounded by our hosts' servants and more distant relatives, As soon as we got up they sat down and tackled what was left. I was glad then that I had not been greedy; I had left plenty for them. "And so, after taking more evidence, our visit came to an end. Before we left in our car the villagers brought us some camels, which we mounted in order to have a pictorial record of our visit to Makatala."