Ernest Harcourt Ely

THE FIRST CONTINGENT – Fri 22 Jan 1915

Private E. H. Ely, of Harcourt, has forwarded a number of letters to his relatives, from which we extract tho following:—

We have just had a chance of getting some more letters away today, as another mail goes off at 5 o’clock. We awoke this morning to find we were anchored in the harbor at Aden. A lovely sight met our gaze. On one side were high hills, composed of sand and stone. On the other side a big sandy desert. It puts one in mind of what I should think Jerusalem would be like with its walls around about. We got in pretty close, and could see the camels drawing water carts. We had to take on coal here. It was brought out in boats. We have not received any letters yet, but expect some tonight. A man can see evidence of the Arabs here; you can see the mud huts, with thatched roofs. We can see the Arab holy City on our left. They look like a lot of big mud mounds, very white. The natives are all around the ship selling cigarettes, pineapples, post cards, pearl necklaces, etc. If I have the luck to come back, I will try and get some on the way back. They charge 1/ for the necklaces, postcards, 1d. It is very hot today, the hottest we have had yet. You can get an idea what Aden is like by some of the cards. A few of the buildings look like a few hundreds of years behind the times. They look like a lot of the views you see at the pictures. We are just beginning to enjoy our trip. Like the River Darling, the further you go the better the scenery. On the top of this hill there are walls running right around it. I could not get a view of the fortifications. We don’t see many apples on board, let alone taste them. I suppose we will soon have Xmas holidays. Then the next in Harcourt will be the A.X.A. Sports. Well, we hope to be home for next Xmas, and what a time we will have then.

South of Suez, Tuesday.-We must have our mail ready by half-past 7 this morning, so I started this as soon as I got up. You will be glad to hear that we are not going to England, but are going to finish our training at Cairo. We reach Suez sometime this morning. We have no more news since we left Aden. We left there, and passed through the Gates of Turs at 2 o’clock. You can see land on both sides, mostly sandy hills. On Friday we passed several great big rocks out on their own, with light houses on them. I was vaccinated while passing those. My arm is getting itchy, so I suppose it is going to take. When coming up the Red Sea several of the Indian transport ships passed us. On Monday we passed the monument erected in the Red Sea to show where the Israelites crossed when fleeing from the Egyptians. I don’t fancy we will see much fighting in Europe. We will be quartered in Cairo for a few months until the winter is over. I fancy we will be there then in case the Turks rebel. We will be there then to quash them. We ought to learn a bit about it now. The Pyramids are only nine miles from Cairo, so we ought to get a chance of seeing them.

Entrance to Suez Canal, Tuesday night: – Our mail does not go off until 9 in the morning, so I got these cards this morning, and am sending them on. We arrived at Suez at 10 o’clock this morning, and have been anchored here all day. We have made preparation for a surprise attack going through the Canal. There are supposed to be 30,000 Turks on the march, and they could attack us from either side of the Canal. But they would get a rough time of it. We have got guns on the stern, also machine guns, and the same upon the bridge. The New Zealanders are ahead of us. There was a rumour tonight that they had been fired on, after they had entered the Canal, Just, a stray shot or two by some of the Arabs. 1 don’t think we move from here till the morning. The Arabs were alongside the boats selling dates, postcards, Turkish delight, cigarettes, biscuits, milk, etc. One thing about the dates was that they were infected with codlin moth. I did not think dates were subject to the codlin, but it is the same as we have in our apples. We had some oranges to-day, 6d a dozen, and good ones at that. You can see by the card that the Suez Canal is not very wide. We will be able to tell you more about it when we get through. We can see only one patch of vegetation, and that is a clump of trees, a place that is called “Moses’s Well.” I will write again from Port Said or Alexandria. We expect to land at Alexandria. I should not be surprised if we have an engagement with the Turks in Egypt.

Mena Camp.-We arrived here on Sunday, December 6th, at half past 11. Monday we just killed time. Tuesday we went for a march up to the Pyramids about, a mile away. We got up

there at 10 o’clock, and were dismissed for 2 1/2 hours, which time we spent in exploring the Pyramids and Sphinx. I was one of the first, to reach the top of the biggest Pyramids, 430 feet high. It is composed of limestone, some blocks measuring 4x4x7 feet. However they got them up there I don’t know. It took us 25 minutes to climb up, stopping two or three times to view the scenery. Coming down it only took us ten minutes. From the top to the north could be seen Cairo in the distance, to the east, the mud flats, and Mena to the west, and south, sandy hills. Around Mena are several date groves. The guide charged us 1/ to take us to the top, and two piastres to take us inside. Going inside we went down a slope for about 20 yards, then up for about 30, till we came to a sort of shaft, which the guide told us was Pharoah’s tomb, 100 ft deep. Then we went along a long, low, dark passage to the Queen of Sheba’s Chamber. This was like a big room, walls about 15ft high, with an arched roof. It was pretty hot inside: and we wore glad to get out in the fresh air again. Little did I think when I went to school and first saw the photo of the Pyramids, that it would be my good luck to explore them. I did not go and have a look at the Sphinx, tombs, wells, etc. I think we have the afternoon off, if so I we will go and explore them. I expect we will get plenty of opportunities of seeing them before we leave here. In fact some of the officers seem to think we will be here for 12 months. We have no tents to sleep in yet; they are not expected for a week. Last night it was raining, we had a job to keep dry; only our waterproof sheets over us. We may see some fighting after a while. There is a rumour that the British flag is to be hoisted here in Egypt on the 20th. If the Turks rise, we will quell them.

Thursday: – Our section has leave tonight, so I am finishing this to post in Cairo. The weather is nice, and cool now, after the rain. Some of our tents have arrived, so I don’t suppose we will be long in getting them up. If we have the luck we may be home this time next year. Just returned from a march, we went about four miles out and back. How are the Second Contingent getting on? Is there any further talk of their leaving? It is worth all we have gone through to see the sights we have seen. We get off every five days from three o’clock until 10 at night so we ought to learn a little about Cairo.