THE WESTERN DESERT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24433, 19 October 1940, Page 8

THE WESTERN DESERT

MONOTONOUS MOTORING CAIRO TO ALEXANDRIA . (N.Z.E.F. Official .Nfews Service) : : '. 1: We left early one morning in admail English motor car, -and as we slipped out c-f camp the. sun was shining brightly, and all seemed to indicate a hot day’s motoring, at least till we could feel the cool breezes of the Mediterranean that; were over 100 miles away* •- • *• • We sped out of Cairo and on down the seven straight miles to Mena House. Mena House is one, of the fashionable hotels for the peace-time visitors to Egypt; It is within a few hundred yards-of the Sphinx and the two Pyramids. Before we reached Mena. House .-.the sun slipped behind a mist, and as the road, gently descending, approached the hotel a wet. thick fog enveloped us., . ■ . - The contrast 1 from .the warm morning sun to the grey, wet, and comparatively cold fog was felt at once. Speed had to be reduced. At times the visibility did not extend beyond 20 yards. ' - ■ - . , - The road -round Mena House .turns north across the desert.'and for a few miles leads up . a gentle range of hills. Here we hoped to leave the fog behind. But it grew thicker and colder, and for 30 miles, save for a fitful sight of sunlight. we wore compelled to drive along hampered by-’the elements.,;. ;

, Long, Straight Stretches' :; , At last we came out of the fog into sunlight, and were soon speeding along the most monotonous road that , man ever made for car. The road is straight for stretches of 3.0 or 40 miles at,'a time. Yellow arid desert on each side, no vegetation worth mentioning, and not a sign of man or-animal: Running parallel to the road is a telegraph line, and the posts as we flashed past seemed onlyf, to ‘the-monotony of the route. • .. ! Midway to Alexandria is a huge restaurant. Half way House, situated oh a rise, and there we halted and gazed over gently undulating but still yellow arid waste lands. ' • - ’ The first man we met was an Egyptian motor cyclist standing by a. dead camel. From the injuries on the beast it appeared that it had been , too disdainful ‘of ' some heavy- motor lorry. We lunched by the roadside and placed our small oil burner inside;an empty bitumen barrel, for a breeze was blowing. ■ and. being New Zealanders., we wanted tea with our lunch. Then came the first sight of human habitation. It consisted of Bedouin camps; though camps is hardly the word for a permanent house. The residences consist of canvas or skin coverings, . Large low-ceilinged tents, not high enough for a man to stand up in.. We saw women and children in and about these tents. It struck us as curious, but from that time -till we almost reached ; Matruh • the women were air dressed in bright red longshirts or Tiista'ahs/- ’

These Bedouins have earned a good name wiih .the troops in the Western Desert. They are shyer than their Egyptian brethren, who live in the cities of Cairo and Alexandria, and so far as we can learii, are honest. It would be difficult to classify their means of livelihood, but farming is the nearest description. There is some ploughing w i ll a single wooden: plough, which seems only to scratch the surface, and all the families .have their tribes of goats. Some, if not all, have camels, and we , saw these haughty creatures bearing great loads of produce across the desert.

The women were all shy, but the men waved in a friendly way as we sped along. Many of them carried oldfashioned muzzle-loading muskets, to them, precious possessions. : ~. :v White, and .Beautiful : At last we ran towards the environs of Alexandria, and saw .in the distance,past a very unpromising suburban-area, a city rising whi © and beautiful with every now and then a glimpse of the blue waters of the Mediterranean.■ We soon ran into the city, over; dreadfully rough, stony streets, narrow and tortuous, and well filled with the most careless pedestrians .ever' conceived for the torture, of motorists. We reported to the A.P.M. as in duty, bound; filled the tank with benzine* and drove out again, but along thie waterfront, where there were sights that filled us with pride and joy T and which would have filled the'■ltalians with hatred arid fear.