Letters from Arthur Seaforth Blackburn to his family, 1941 - Part 8

Lt Col A S Blackburn V.C 
SX 6962 
2/3 M G Bn 
AIF 
Abroad. 
30/5/41. 

My dearest family. 
We are still here in the same place & still enjoying some 
beautiful weather. The evenings are wonderfully cool & the days quite 
hot. The sights & incidents of the country still provide a source of  
amusement & interest to us all. As I think I have told you the donkey 
is the almost universal beast of burden - at least as far as a  
riding animal is concerned.  The donkeys used are all very  
small - many of them very small indeed. - but exceedingly sturdy  
and apparently able to carry enormous loads. Yesterday - no a  
day or two ago - I saw a very small donkey indeed with a  
very large fat Arab riding on him, in addition to this sitting 
in front of the Arab was a young lad of about 15 or 16 carrying  
a bicycle in front of him. You never saw anything quite so  
lopsided & absurd looking as the bicycle, boy, & fat Arab  
all on the back of an exceedingly small donkey which seemed  
quite unaffected by the load but just went along in a  
normal manner. A few days ago a I saw a sight which I  
would very much have liked to photograph. It was the  
first time really that I felt sorry that I didn't have a  
camera. The local Arabs when out in the fields erect

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erect a rough shade from the sun by supporting a mat or  
sacking on sticks about eighteen inches or two feet high under  
which they - or more particularly their children crawl & go to sleep.   
Well, I saw one of these shelters in a corner of a field. Under it was  
a little naked child lying on the ground sound asleep. A flock  
of goats were the paddock and a number of young kids (real  
kids, not children) had gone in under the shelter as well & also lay  
down & gone to sleep. I wish you could have seen them, all  
mixed up together & all sound asleep. You can have no  
idea how pretty it all looked. The sheep here are a quite  
remarkable breed. Their tails are very fat indeed & are not  
cut off like our sheep. Often the sheep have tails which must  
be quite a foot through.  They have long silky looking wool,  
not a bit like the wool on our sheep. There seems to be a  
remarkable lack of dogs around here. I have never seen  
a place where dogs are so scarce.  I doubt whether I  
have seen twenty dogs since arriving here. I have just  
been out about half a mile from our camp & there on  
the side of a hill I saw a flock of 40 or 50 black goats in  
charge of three Arab shepherds. They will stay out there  
all night, finding something to eat on a hillside  
which looks absolutely bare & watched by their Shepherds  
all night.  These Shepherds are quiet enough chaps to 

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look at but are pretty fierce in protection of their flocks. 
Last night one of our officers was out on a night exercise  
& got lost temporarily. Whilst wandering about he suddenly  
came over a brow of a hill onto a flock. As quick as  
lightning the shepherd in charge drew a long knife &  
appeared prepared to do battle immediately. It was only  
after same persuasion that be realised that the officer was  
not after his sheep but had lost his way & even then  
he followed him until he was well away from the  
flock. One has to be pretty carefully at night around here!   
In fact it is not only at night - for various reasons we all carry  
loaded revolvers whenever we go out of camp! Today (Sunday) 1st  
June) I have been on leave with two other officers to a place called Ascalon  
which you will know something about if you remember your scripture.  
Apart from its mention in the Bible, it was at one time under the Romans  
the centre of knowledge & learning in these parts. It is a wonderfully  
interesting place.  In the first place the Arabs in the village seemed to 
be of a much better class than usual. The present village is right on  
the site of the old Roman village & right on the coast & many of the  
Arabs are fishermen. They have wonderful big boats, very strongly built,  
& fitted with a mast & sail. There is quite a strong surf running  
however & to launch the boat they get about 8 or 10 men with oars &

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then just push it out by a dozen or so men & the rowers row out 
until past the surf & then just hoist the sail. The fact that so many of the villagers  
are fishermen seems somehow to make them a much better type! However, the  
interest of the village lies more in the Roman relics which are there. Some of 
the ancient Roman baths are still in a fair state of preservation, surrounded  
with marble statuary which is alleged to be the original genuine stuff, but  
which I rather doubt. That was rather a show place with a guide to show it off  
& that spoilt it to some extent. The most interesting thing to me where the things 
which were obviously & genuinely the real originals. There are a large number  
of granite pillars lying around in all directions - some right on the beach,  
some alongside the remains of an old Roman wall, & lots & lots of them just  
lying half buried in dirt in the orange gardens & vegetable patches which  
abound. These granite pillars are all of one pattern - about 8 to 10 feet  
long & about 18 inches in diameter or a little more. As there is no granite of any  
sort anywhere near here & they appear to be the exact sort of granite which comes 
from Italy it is fairly obvious that they are relicts of the Roman occupation  
obvious signs of which & of their buildings, acqueducts, & storage chambers etc  
abound all over the place. All over the site of the old Roman city there are  
the most wonderfully built wells usually 60-80 feet deep or more & beautifully  
lined all the way down, in some cases with pure white marble. They are  
now used by the Arabs for irrigation & other purposes & the Arab method of  
drawing the water is very interesting & I will try to describe it. I  
only wish I could sketch decently so as to give you a real picture

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of it. I will try o describe one - it is typical of them all - at which we stopped  
for about half to three quarters of an hour. Picture to yourself a small block  
of land about the size of our place and in one corner a mud building no  
bigger than our garage & shed combined but with a flat roof on w most  
of which is enclosed in a sort of lattice work & access to which in this case, as in  
many others, is gained by an ordinary ladder leaning against the side of the house.  
This upper structure is apparently used to a big extent as a bed room as in many 
cases beds were visible there, although in this particular case there were only  
chairs & tables there. The main building has only one door and two holes about  
a foot square high up in the wall at opposite ends which I presume were  
windows. There was no other possible means of ventilation. Just outside the  
door of the building was a huge tree which looked like a walnut tree &  
this cast an immense shadow. At the foot of the tree was a typical well  
of the variety visible all over Ascalon. It was about 4 feet across, quite  
circular, lined throughout with the most beautiful neat stonework the  
top of which protruded about three feet above ground level. One On  
one side of this well was a stone platform about 4 feet square & worn  
so smooth & shiny as to look like glass. At the end of this stone platform  
was a concrete tank about the same size but obviously much more  
recent in date - the Arabs told us they (that is Arabs) had built the tank long after  
Roman days when they took took possession of the place & started  
growing fruit trees, vegetables etc. Down the centre of the smooth stone  
platform a groove or channel about six inches deep & about the same  
width has been chipped out - also by Arabs we were informed. From the

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end of the tank, le which is only about a foot deep, leads a pipe which opens into  
a concrete irrigation channel. At the opposite side to this stone platform is a  
long sloping pathway or roadway. This is a little bit longer than the depth  
of the well and is pretty steep, sloping away from the well thus. [Illustration of well]. 
At the head of the well is a round wooden solid drum on an iron axle 
which rests on wooden supports imbedded in the stone work each side. This  
wooden drum is at right angles to the path or roadway. On the side of the  
well from which the path or roadway runs is a very solid slab of pure  
white marble - real Italian marble - alleged to have been be (& I should think obviously  
truly) built in to its position by the Romans after being brought over by them  
from Italy. This slab of marble is about 3 to four feet think & is built in so  
as to form part of the framework of the well. At intervals of about ten or  
twelve feet along the sloping roadway is a similar solid slab of white marble.  
Now with that description of the well I will tell you about the things  
that were happening so as to try to give you an idea of what it was  
all like. If you have managed to follow my description (which I doubt)  
of the well, you may follow what it all looked like from the following  
account. Seated on the side of the well - or rather leaning against it - & standing  
on the stone platform was an elderly woman & sitting on the side of the tank 
smoking & taking absolutely no part whatever in the work which was going on  
but merely talking to us, was an elderly man obviously the owner of the  
block. Lying in the dust at his feet was the inevitable camel, chewing  
corn & standing alongside it & occasionally braying was the equally  
inevitable saddled up donkey. On a long thick roap rope was a  
large skin container or bladder fitted onto a wooden ring to 
keep it open & with a weight hanging to the bottom of it. The rope

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passes over the wooden drum - on over the marble slab and to a 
yoke to which are harnessed two donkeys. A much younger man 
& woman - and three children - (they looked like son in laws & wife or vice  
versa) were in charge of the donkeys. Now the elderly woman drops the  
skin containers into the well, the donkeys at this time being right up at  
the top of the sloping roadway alongside the well. When the rope is  
taut - which means it has reached the bottom of the well - the donkeys  
proceeded to walk away down the sloping roadway. The strain on the  
rope goes on, the rope passed over the wooden drum which revolves,  
then passes over the marble slab (with the strain of the weight of water  
pressing it against the marble) and as the donkeys move further &  
further away passes over successive marble slabs. The rope is so  
arranged - or perhaps I should say that the roadway is so arranged in length  
that when the donkeys reach the bottom end of it (where a wall of  
solid earth automatically stops them) the skin container has been drawn  
up - full of water of course - to the level of the stone platform. The  
elderly woman then ceased grabbed it, & tipped it out onto the platform  
where it ran down the groove or channel & so out into the tank.  
Immediately the elderly woman drops the container back into the well,  
the donkeys turn & walk up to the well again, thus lowering the  
container again to the bottom of the well & so the performance goes  
on & on until enough water is drawn. All this is done to the  
accompaniment of a regalmained not at all unpleasant sort of sing song  
from everyone concerned, all of which seems to mean the different "orders"

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such as "stop," "gee up" (to the donkeys) " steady" etc & to all of which the donkeys seem  
to respond. The elderly woman frequently - in fact usually - pours some  
of the water over her feet, - which don't look particularly clean &  in fact twice  
whilst we were there got into the dust & dirt by her stepping momentarily  
off the platform but nobody seems to mind that. The spare donkey lent  
over once & drank out of the tank and about ten minutes later all hands  
stopped for a few minutes, dipped containers into the tank & had a drink  
of the water. Nevertheless with it all it all looked utterly peaceful &  
happy. All the Arabs were smiling & polite & anxious so far as they could  
understand & be understood to explain everything. For the purpose required 
it all looked quite efficient. Now for one or two amazing things. I told 
you that the marble is alleged to be (and it is difficult to see how it could be  
otherwise) the original Roman slab of marble. The only rope used (and I  
should think which ever has been used) is an ordinary hemp or yarn  
rope and yet the constant friction of it over the marble has worn  
not one but five notches side by side the deepest of which was  
four & a half inches and the shallowest - the one at present is use & which  
the Arabs say is the newest having been started some generations ago  
is over two inches deep. Each of the other marble slabs are similarly  
notched although not quite so deep as they don't get quite the  
strain of the top slab. Just imagine the age of it! Solid marble  
notched like that by ordinary wear, constantly repeated day after  
day for years & centuries, of ordinary rope being dragged over it 
at the same place. At one well we saw a new notch - only about ½ inch 
or less - so it all looks perfectly genuine. Unfortunately no one could talk 
English there at that well so we couldn't get any idea how long it had 
taken to make the ½ inch depression. Later on we walked along the beach

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to a place where the sea in course of time has evidently eaten it's way 
into the cliff & caused a big fall of earth. Lying on the beach at the foot 
of the cliff are three or four of those granite pillars and about halfway 
up - about 50 - 60 feet down the cliff from the top is half a circular 
pit sort of thing. The fall of earth has evidently cut right through the 
middle of the pit. The Arab story is that that is a Roman storage 
tank which originally was quite close to the surface but which in 
course of time has become buried deeper & deeper through centuries of  
accumulations of earth etc on top of it until the fall of earth fairly 
recently exposed it. Anyway just at the side of this can be clearly seen 
an accumulation of old bits of pottery etc embedded in the face of the 
cliff about half way up as I said. After a lot of difficulty I climbed 
up to this & dislodged some of it with a stick & knocked it down 
to the beach. I then gathered some of it up & am posting it back to you by  
parcel post. Whether it ever gets there remains to be seen. So far as I can  
work it out it must be very old indeed to be embedded in the face of  
the cliff as it was & as the half pit bears every indication of being Roman  
it is likely that the pottery etc also is. Of course I can't guarantee that  
but I thought you might be interested to see it & to realise that it 
quite possibly dates from the days when Christ was in this land. 
On the way back I passed through an Arab village in which I 
saw an Arab with brilliant red, carroty hair. It is the first 
time I have seen a red headed Arab.

10. 
Margie, darling, I was so glad to get your letter dated 29th April & to hear how well you  
are doing at school both at work & at tennis. I suppose the next thing I hear will be  
that you are in the B team or something. I fully expect to hear that Wody is in the A team very  
soon. Keep on at your debating Margie. I wish I could have heard it, it must have been 
lovely - and fancy you being Captain of the team! And so, even in spite of your shouting,  
Saints didn't win the Head of the River! They can't have heard you shouting out!  
What a gay time you seen to be having, lovely, with your picture parties etc. I am so  
glad to hear all about them. I am no glad to hear, Wody beautiful, from your l 
etter of 27th April that your tennis has come good again. What a trying time  
you had with the lesson & hymn dear, you didn't tell me in what way they  
wrote the hymn up wrongly. By the way Wody dear who is Miss Sharp's nephew? 
Is he is my Bn? The picture you paint in your letter Wody of sitting in  
front of the fire having supper & reading & writing makes me very 
envious. I can imagine no more perfect way of spending an evening. 
I hope you are getting on well, Bob & not finding the work too hard. 
Golf I suppose is in full swing. I wish I could have a game 
with you at Seaton. It would be infinitely nicer than sweating 
out here in the sand & heat. 
Well, dears, I must stop this letter as I have just about 
filled up all the space I am allowed so as to keep under the ½ 
ounce. Goodbye & lots of kisses little dears. Keep your chin 
up, Bob, the next six months will go pretty quickly. 
Your affectionate father 
Arthur S Blackburn. 
P.S I haven't written to Dick again, because rumor has it that he 
will have left by the time a letter gets there. 
AB. 
C.J Glover.