WAR RELICS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16545, 19 November 1915, Page 2

WAR RELICS.

AND ANTIQUITIES FROM EGYPT.

CHAT WITH CHAPLAIN-CAPTAIN BUSH KING.

A Times reporter had a most interesting chat yesterday with Chaplain-captain 0. J. Bush-King, who returned from Anzae and Egypt with the sick and wounded men on the Willochra. Chaplain Bush-King, who has greatly benefited by the sea Voyage, was in his office at the roar of St. Matthew's Church, surrounded with piles of books, papers, and records, and also with a number of valuable Egyptian relics and many little mementoes of the war that servo _ to give a vivid impression of the deadly risks that even a chaplain must run on active service. Chaplain Bush-King is preparing a lecture to bo given in the Garrison Hall next wreck, dealing largely with life and experiences with the New Zealanders at Anzac, and ho therefore did not wish to say much for publication on these matters beforehand. He E reduced, however; a number of slides which eis intending to show. Undoubtedly these are of great interest. They show the crowded Anzac Beach from _ a number of different points of view, and in the distance Imbros and Samothraco can be clearly seen. Anzac Beach is .only about two chains •wide, and in some places it is not so much. The mention of Ari Burmi led the chaplain to explain the meaning of the word "burnu" and of several terms that frequently occur in Turkish place-names. Burnu is a nose, a point, a cape, or, in fact, anything that juts out prominently. "Dere," pronounced as a disyllabic is a creek or gully. " Tepe," also a disvllable, means a hill; and "dagh'' means a hill or mountain. Chaplain-captain Bush-King made some pointed comments on a cablegram from London published on Monday. It stated that in the House of Commons Mr H. )J. Tennant, Uiider-secretary for War, had eaid that an officer had told him that no com-mander-in-chief had spent more time in the fire trenches than Sir lan Hamilton, and that his headquarters was only 45 minutes sail from Gallipoli. " Take your map and measure the distance from Lemnos to Anzac," said the chaplain, "and see whether a steamer could do it in 45 minutes. The distance is some 80 miles, and it is a four to six hours' journey for our cruisers and transports." Mr Bush-King went on to state that'never once from the first landing on April 25 till August 1 did Sir lan set foot at Anzac. The chaplain was living right on the only road leading from the beach to the fire trenches, and was therefore in a position to see all who came and went. He is positive that Sir lan never once visited the Australian and New Zealand positions, where so much heavy fighting was going on, and his belief is that that is why the General has been recalled. It is painful to hear that out of over 20,000 New Zealanders who have been sent out to the front there are only 1500 now left at for active service. The Australians were being much better' looked after than the New Zealanders; and that, the chaplain believes, is one reason why Lord Kitchener has gone East. " Was Sir lan Hamilton really not nopular then?" asked the reporter. "We did not know him," was the reply. "He never entered our thoughts. We never saw him. The only officer of any standing who came near us was Admiral de Robeck, Commander of the Mediterranean Squadron. General Birdwood, too, often passed up and down." - Next week the chaplain is going to place on view in Messrs Stewart, Dawson s window a number of ancient Egyptain curios and several little war mementoes that have something of a spicy personal interest for himself. Some of these he showed and described to the interviewer. He opened up a little parcel containing a number /it battered bullets and ragged, ugly-lookmg pieces of shrapnel. Each piece has a history of its own. The big lump of shrapnel, ■weighing over a quarter of a pound, landed just" beside the narrator's foot. These fragments, on account of their peculiar distorted shape do not travel straight through the air, and one can never tell from what direction to expect them. Sometimes they develop almost, a boomerang movement. They are red hot when they land, and thus they burn as well as tear the flesh. This is not altogether a drawback, as it serves to cauterise and sterilise the wound. Another somewhat smaller piece of shrapnel the chaplain kept because it had struck him on the shoulder He has seen similar pieces embedded in the jaws and necks of men. The little twisted piece of nickel was the outer covering of a bullet that struck the. chaplain's cap. The misshapen bullet with the cover missing was a ricochet that the chaplain picked up a few inches from his head when he woke one morning. A neat bullet whizzed past the bridge of his nose and buried itself in the bank one Sunday morning when he was on his way to conduct service with the Otago Mounted Rifles No. 3 outpost. Another bullet in the collection had ricochetted from a stone on the Anzac beach and hit him behind the left knee, but' without inflicting any injury. The chaplain has never been wounded, in spite of his many narrow escapes. On one occasion ho was sitting with four others underneath a limber on the Anzac beach, when a whole shell case landed right in the middle of them; but, by an extraordinary chance, not one of them was hit. Commenting on the -varieties of markings on the various bullets, the chaplain eaid that there was one that used to come regularly ovor the New Zealand position at Walker's Ridge, which "miauwed" like a cat. One day they mussed it. and jumped to the conclusion that the Turks had changed their troops. This surmise subsequently proved to bB correct. Tho chaplain considers that the most -valuable item in his whole collection of Egyptian antiquities is a small votive offering dish of rod clay, and somewhat chinped about. It is only about Ijin across, and is not impressive to look at; but it comes from the tomb of Mones, the first historical King of Egypt. Ho died about, the year 3403 8.C., so this little piece of red pottery' was worked some 5400 years ago. The chaplain received it from Bishop M'lnnes, of .Terusalrm, who is now residing at Cairo. The bishop has lived for about 16 years in Cairo, and is recognised as an authority on these matters. The present valuation of this little dish is about £10 in Cairo. The second exhibit in the collection is an ointment, or wine jar belonging to the prehistoric neolithic period. It is a roughlymade square of whitish clay, narrowing at the top, which is moulded in the form of a royal head. The royalty about it is signified by the fashion of the headdress. Neolithic man is supposed to have lived 6000 years ago or more, and the only trace now known of him is in the well-preserved bodies and the pieces of pottery somotimes found accompanying them. The art of embalming was not understood in those days, and tho bodies were simply laid in a sand grave on a small mat and covered over with a mat and sand. The saline properties of■ the sand, however, together with the wonderfully dry climate, have preserved these bodies. Tho fact that all these bodies so far discovered have been buried with the head' to the south and the face to the west, and the face rest, ing on the left hand, indicates that these people had at least some primitive religious conception. All tombs, mastabas, pyramids, and such like are found on tho western bank of tho Nile, and this seems to indicate tho influence of tho early religious thought of the neolithic man. No. 3 in the collection is another little vofc've offering jar. roughly rounded, and made of red clay. No. 4 is a votive offering basket that was in use at the time of Moses. No. 5 is an excellent specimen of a mummified hawk, with claws and feathers showing at tho bottom of the careful wrappings, and the beak just wearing its way throucrh. This comes from the tombs of the Kings of Thebes, and is between 2000 and 3000 years old. No. 6 is a breast cover taken from the breast, of a mummy, and so fragile that it has had to be mounted on cardboard. No. 7 is a mummified foot, showing the ankl" bones and sin"ws, and is.also from the roval tom!>3 -.at No. 8, an imitation slave, throws curious licrht on Old World manners and customs. At one time it was thought proner. when a kio<r died, to slaughter many of his slaves and bury them near him, so that he might have ample attpndanoo on his travels m the next world. This, however, was found_ to be wasteful and expensive, and the priests r>f the cult of Am-mon-Ra, with tlwt practical s>i<rf""'t,v which is supposed to characterise the profession, dev'M"cl ' a more method —m-ve e-'tipfacro'-v. at l«ast. one would hope, to the slaves. The priests conceived the idea of sn charmincr srvYMilly-orcpamd images that, when buried with the kin?, they would come to life in tho under-world, and there art tho part of slaves to the departed monarch. Tho royal cartouche was generally inscribed on tho hncl< of the iniago. so that, there qkonU be in' ni-"'-'"'ke ■'.«; M i+s ownership when it came to life. The chaplain's exhibit is one of these images. These ohieets ferm onlv i. «nnll portion. rH"" I "!.''-*- the s"tr-r<"=f.'P'r W't. nf the collection which Chnr>ln.in-captnin ■R'wh-Finjr Ins b'-onnht with him. "nd which he will publicly exhibit next week.