SOME EASTERN INFORMATION.

Northern Advocate, 3 June 1918, Page 2

SOME EASTERN INFORMATION.

CURIOUS CUSTOMS,

In th 6 course of a characteristic letter to a friend, the evergreen Harry Johnson, of Hukerenui, writes from the Sinai Desert region as follows :—- ---"Well, now I will tell you a little about Cairo. It is/a wonderful place; you can get anything in this world in this great city, and at every price. Prices for everybody from best possible quality and price to the lowest quality and price. It is a great city, no mistake. One quarter of it is up-to-date, another a little lower, and another still lower, till you get to the slums which are not safe to visit unless you are prepared for rough handling. The old hands tell some very exciting experiences they have seen happen to soldiers on the 'shicker. , Many a man has been struck off the strength of his unit through visiting the slums of Cairo. Many' a good soldier has been missed and never heard of again. But 'H.J. , always knows how to look after himself, and so has been everywhere and seen everything. I must see the lot or I could not rest. I saw some very funny things. The country is all irrigated from the Nile —that great river has been the salvation of Egypt. Thousands of miles of the richest possible land in Egypt would not bt worth a tin of fish if it was not for the great irrigation work. The great dams and canals are a great piece of engineering. There are dozens of different ways used in pumping water from the Nile. I saw ah old cow blindfolded walking round a circle of 16ft diameter, pumping water by means of a whim. In another place you see niggers turning a screw after the style, of a corkscrew, and the water is carried inside this big screw —the screw discharges a great quantity of water. The crops are great. I never saw things grow like it. Then, again, in places they flood the patch to be sown one or two feet deep, and sow the seed in water—the bad seed floats and the good seed sinks, then the water is blocked back. They have all sorts of teams to plough with—very laughable some of them. One has a camel and an old milking cow, another haa a mule and a donkey, another three, calves,.another .a camel and an old screw of a pony. The plough itself is only the limb of a tree almost straight, others well bent, others of different shapes. Of course the land is only sand. I saw maize 18 feet high; one would not believe it if he did not see it himself. The sights are great. The Pyramids are a matter of wonder. The one I

was l on is 470 feet high, and to climb to the top is a pretty stiff job. The steps are 3 feet 6 inches each, and it requires a good deal of grit to take it on. On the top there is a small fiat, and a Gyppo is up there with a spirit stove and makes tea prscojffee for you. Then you can go half, way up on the inside and get to the King's Chamber, and then up again on the inside to the Queen's Chamber., The floors of these Chambers are of alabaster, and are slippery to "stand "on. You get the best possible view of Cairo and all the surrounding country from the top of this great ancient construction. How the hell these Egyptians got these great blocks of stone up there beats me.

"The milkman here takes the cake. In the morning hei comes I'ound with his cow and yells out at each door. You go out and cell him how much you want, and he sits right down and milks away; and then on to the next door—a man does get the milk pure and not water.

"I saw a Greek funeral. Everything on the carriage and horses were snow white. The carriage is. entirely hidden under a great white veil, and the six horses are covered all over with white, only their heads are seen— they are clothed right to the ground. The chief mourners, all in white, walk in front of the horses; then comes a troupe of clowns all dressed in clown gear the same as any. clown in a circus, and they carry great big hoops of flowers. It is a queer funeral — more like an Irish wake. The Bedouins are a race of natives not to be trusted as far as you could throw a camel. They are the dread of the soldier. They are shot for sport by the Australians who have suffered j a lot from their treachery. They crawl up and kill the pickets in the dark, and mutilate the dead and wounded. The Gippo is bad enough, but these are out on tbeir own as cutthroats. Well, I have some splendid views of Cairo and other historic places and am sending them home. A soldier can't buy a town on two bob a day. Old Jimmy Allen says that tenpence a day is plenty of money for a soldier oh active service; but I should like to see -him come out and try it himself. A soldier is not in the fight every day, and when on leave he wants money or he can't see much. Well I have taken a long time writing this letter—about ten days—l have only had time to scratch a few lines at a time, and now I am on the shift; so hurrah. Tell everybody that wants to come out here that this Eastern front is a huge joke, and not much chance of being hurt —unless he gets desert sick which they call 'swinging the lead t ' "