CAIRO AND ENVIRONS[ToList]
Apart from short trips on the Nile, per steam dahabiyehs, two other excursions must be mentioned. One was to the Island of Roda to view the spot where the infant Moses is alleged to have been found by the Pharoah's daughter; and the other by tram or gharri along the Mena Road to the Zoological Gardens. This institution is said to have been one of the many extravagances of the Khedive Ismail. The visitors greatly admired the grounds and also the fine collection of the larger African animals.
Driving back in the evening from the Gardens, the soldier was able to see Cairo taking the air under the shade of the lebbok trees and observe the wealthy and official classes in their carriages and motors. He was not slow to notice the arrogant air of the Egyptian male aristocracy, accompanied as they often were by rather fleshy ladies of foreign origin. Nor did he fail to feel impressed by the neat and wholesome appearance of the few British ladies who took exercise on this highway.
With the exception of two days at the beginning of August, when Cairo was placed out of bounds owing to the rioting, and the 12th to 14th August, when the Festival of Bairam was being observed, sight-seeing went on at leave periods during the whole of the Battalion's stay in Egypt.
On the 16th August the Battalion, when carrying out a night operation in the desert, was recalled to camp and ordered to proceed the following morning to garrison the Citadel. At 7.30 a.m. on the 17th August the 28th, leaving the transport behind under a small guard, commenced the march to its new home which, after a trying time in the heat, was reached in due course and quarters found in the various blocks of barracks. These quarters, it was discovered, were alive with vermin, necessitating the whole Battalion being set to work for several hours in an attempt to clean the place. Iron bedsteads and palliasses were available for the use of the troops, but as the palliasses also showed signs of life very few were used. After Gallipoli was reached an account for 40 of these iron bedsteads, which the unit, it was inferred, had taken with it or disposed of in some other unlawful manner, was received from the British authorities. Needless to say it has not yet been paid.
The C.O. was, for the time being, the Commandant of the fortress which was the home of the ordnance stores and reserve of ammunition of the Army of Occupation. Besides the British and Egyptian staffs to work these, there were other troops within the walls. These included details of the 2nd Mounted Division, recently embarked for the Peninsula; British and Indian General Hospitals (both full); a hospital for convalescents; a detention barracks; and about 40 Turkish Officers under guard as prisoners of war. Amongst these prisoners was a major, a nephew of the Senussi, who had been visiting Constantinople at the outbreak of war and found himself immediately requisitioned for a tour through Arabia for the purpose of promoting a holy war against the English. Himself an Arab, who had always looked upon Great Britain with friendly eyes, he undertook the mission rather unwillingly. In course of time he joined Djemal Pasha's army approaching the Canal and was finally captured by its defenders.
Owing to the large numbers of men required for special duties, all training, except that for the section, platoon, and company, had to cease. What little was done was carried out in the barrack yards or else, in the early morning, on the top of the adjacent Moqattam Hills, which was reached by a kind of causeway running up through the quarries. The duties consisted of providing guards and sentries for the various gates of the Citadel; guards on some of the hospitals and detention barracks; and patrols which had the unpleasant duty of traversing the highways of the city for the purpose of preserving order and looking after the interests of the army and the men on leave.
Existing orders did not permit any civilian to enter the gates of the Citadel unless provided with an official pass. The enforcement of this order caused some dismay amongst the women from the neighbouring houses who had been in the habit of visiting the Citadel stables for the purpose of obtaining material for the manufacture of fuel, which was a scarce commodity with them. The ladies' method of explaining their mission was clear, if not delicate, and brought a blush to the faces of the sentries on the Moqattam Gate.