Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his wife, 1914 - Part 4

1
"Mena Camp"
My dearest Wife
I got two lovely long letters 19/12/14
from you today. One was addressed to
Albany & the other just to the "Hororata"
xx one dated the 25^th Nov Oct & the other the
29^th Oct. You were a darling [* go out*] good to write so many
letters. Of course in a way they were spoiled
by the fact that I got your letter of the
2^nd November before them & naturally I wanted
a later letter to assure me that all was still 
xxxx  with you & my wee pets. But they were
lovely all the same especixxxx of my
wee laddie talking & saying "pals now" Mummy
dear you & Donny are "pals now" & always are arent we.
It was good to hear that Mr Robert threw
out the Frankston Council. Perhaps it
will keep them quiet for a bit. There
is not much news to tell. Capt Jackson
is out of hospital again but Capt Blezard
& Lt Gull are there still. Capt Henderson
is coming up from Alexandra this evening
We are working pretty hard here as at
Broadmeadows & the Boys are getting
better than ever at their Drill. The
7^th Battalion & the 3^rd Battalion from
N.S.W. were selected out of all the
Australians to be present at the Coronation
 

4
more so than your old man I'm afraid Katie 
dear. He did'nt tell Dr Gutheridge
nearly so many nice things & he had
[*Omit*] to pay him another obo to find out if
any lady loved him. He said one did &
Gutheridge asked him if he was going to
wed her & the [[?]] said he was going to
wed a wealthy lady & was going home safe
after the War. Dr Gutheridge has got
measles now & is away in the Hospital
Capt Blezard was also taken to the
Hospital this morning with Bronchial
pneumonia. Capt M^cCrae has a bad
cold but the other boys are all well

[* - Go to back of P. 2 -*]
Oh I forgot the fortune teller night said I was
getting a letter from home soon with some
news that would please me very much
[*Omit*]I am wondering what it will be Kit. I
Maybe a new Bairnie coming along. What do you
think. Oh but he fell in badly once. after
he had told Dr Gutheridge he was not
married & would wed a rich lady the Dr asked

him if I was wed & he said no - Then we
laughed at him & told him I was wed &
had two bairnies. He was very much put
out about his mistake. I am longing to 
get another letter from you my pet. I do hope
 

5
[*Omit*]you received my postcard & wire from Albany
also the letters I wrote there. It would be a
shame if they went astray. My own true
love God bless you for all your loving thoughts of me.
There are about 100000 troops here in Egypt now English
Indian Australian & New Zealand. Many of
the English ^ officers have brought out their wives (they

have been here 4 months) I wish I could bring
[*Omit*]mine along but I should not like the wee
pet here. All the European children I see
look miserably pale & washed out & most
of the little nigs have sores & diseases of all
kinds. we have all been inocculated against
typoid otherwise it would be South
Africa all over again & perhaps more so.
I think however with care & attention
to Sanitation we will get on all right.
[*Omit*] My own dearest love- come close to me till I tell
you how I love you - every teemy timey little
bit of you - my ol onliest loved one - the dear sweet
little mummy - my bairnies mother - my very own
wife who loves me so -little sweet face Sunshine
Girlie. My precious one I wish I could have
just one peep at you.Your photo has been
packed away all this week since we have
left the ship but now that my time is up
again I must have you out to look at you
 

It is the greatest comfort & pleasing to me
Don't forget to tell me always that you love me
because Didda likes you to say this to him
He is proud of your love & hopes to deserve it
more & more day by day. Now little sweetheart
lift your dear head from your my shoulder & put your

sweet lips to mine & kiss me & let all your love
come to me - Little loved one - my true sweet love
God bless you - kiss my wee ones for me & tell them
that Dida loves them & sends them millions tishes &
wants to come back to them big heap soon & feel their
little lovely arms again - Goodbye again my sweet
loving wife - I send you all my love- no one

has any place in my heart by but you & them - they
you are just all the world to me & that is just
as it should be. You are all my own - very very very
own & the sweetest dearest little pets in all the world
I think so why would I not give up all the
world & everything & everybody in it for you
Mind & have all the holiday necessary to
fit you up & make you good & strong well before
I return for I wont want to part with you for
a day - for years & years & years but just sit &
watch you all the days & kiss you  & love you all
the time. Byr now & god bless & keep you all safe my
loved ones. With kisses all over you dear old face & with all my love
Goodbye - Didda Donny.

Mena Camp
Cairo
13/12/14
[* The postage to Australia is 5 millemes
or ½ piastre that is 1¼^d so I am putting
on a milleme which is ¼^d  Stamp & two ^one halfpenny
ones as well i.e. 2 millemes. Next time I will
put on a 4 milleme & a 1 milleme. Another kiss dearie
& Bye again your
Dida Donny. *]

[* put and cut P4*]
My dearest Kit
I have just heard that there
is another mail going to Australia
tomorrow morning at 10 am. This letter will be No 2.
from Cairo as it is only 8 days since we
arrived & I have sent my letter to you from here already
you must not expect much in the way of news
On the 11^th Dec we started doing a little work by a
short route march out into the desert in the afternoon.
Dull in the morning. On this day I received a post card
from Miss Hannah M^cKay who is in London (she is
Ian M^cKays sister). The country here alternates
sandy valleys which are very tiring for the men to
march through as you sink over your ankles in
the loose sand with rocky stony ridge which
knock your boots about scandalous. We are
settling down very comfortably. For a few
shillings I have secured a folding table with a
hole through its centre for the tent pole, a folding
canvas carry chair & some sheets of close
woven cane matting for a floor to the tent & a
small Bamboo screen which is tied to the
top of the tent & rests against the side of
my table nearest the door so that people cannot
look right into my the tent. The Armourer is
 

2
lending me an arm chest for a cupboard - a
carpenter man is putting shelves in it for me
& tomorrow my servant is getting a nigger to
make me a sort of stretcher for 3/- & when
that is done I will be in greater luxury
than I was at Broadmeadows. The climate
at this season is simply perfect but I believe
it is just Hades in the Summer. The Boys
are still having a rather gay time. I am pleased
that the General has ordered that the men
are not to be paid more than 2/- a day
while in Cairo as it only leads to the men
making fools of themselves with drink. & women
I am gradually getting familiar with the
Egyptian Coinage. They have a pound
called an Egyptian Pound written (E.L.) which is
worth about 6^d more than our own sovereign being
worth 100 Piastres written (P.T.) Each piastre
is worth 97½ Pt 2½^d English money. A sovereign
is worth 97½  Piastres. They have a 20 Piastre
piece which is worth a bit more than a 4/ piece. 
A ten piastre piece worth just over a florin which is
just about the same size. A 5 Piastre piece worth 1^s-0½^d 
& of course just about the size of a Shilling. A One
piastre piece about the size of a 3^d bit. All these are
silver. They have also a nickel Piastre piece which is
about the size of a 6^d but considerably thicker.

P.T.O.
 

3
Like our pennies the xxx nickel coins have no
milled edge while the silver ones have. There is
also a ½ Piastre piece of nickel. Then there
are little nickel coins called Millemes. It takes
10 millemes to make 1 Piastre & so a milleme
is exactly equal to one farthing of our money.
I have not seen any other money but they tell me
there is a copper coinage running down to 16^th of
a milleme but this is exclusively current

ad amongst the lowest class natives who can
manage to exist on 1 Piastre a day & live quite
well too. Take them all in all they are about the
biggest thieves & cheats unhung. They always ask a
price about 4 times as much as a thing  is worth
& if you accept at once they are sorry they did not ask
more & try to raise the price again. One of the Ballarat
officers bought some grass mats like mine & left them
in his tent & went away for a bit & came back
to find them in some one else's tent. He found on
enquiry that the same nigger had stolen the mats as
soon as his back was turned & sold them over again
to the other officer. Yesterday I sent some men down
to the bank of the creek to get some mud to put over
an ^ Aldershot oven we are making for the men. After they got one
load a nigger went off to the General's quarters &
made a terrible fuss about it & we got a note
to say the mud must be paid for.

-4-
The nigger came along with a note to this
effect.  He said he would charge 1/- per
camel load & would bring it on his run
if we wanted the clay badly who  Capt Finlayson told
him to Bring it along & it took 10 loads so 
at the end he paid the nig 18/-. He then
said most politely that he would not dream
of charging us for the mud himself. It was
only for the camel driver that he was charging.
When I came home  Capt Finlayson told

me about this & I instituted some inquiries
& found that the Blessed nigger didn't own any

of the land at all but had just worked a bluff
on the general & scored 10/- for nothing the cartage.
Also that if we for had found the right people
the proper cost of the mud was 1 piastre

for the ten loads was 25^d- 10 Piastres or 25^d

i.e. 2^d 2/1  -. What do you think of that.

Also they are as I said filthy in the 
latrines. Some of the Sergts got nig cooks
& waiters for their mess but they all got
the short boot when it was found that instead

of ging to the back premises to do their
business they were dong it in the  Sandy

floor of the kitchen & covered it up in the Sand.

What do you think of that.  Well Katie old

darling I dont think there is any more
news this time. Ken is keeping very well
Rupert Henderson & Alf Jackson are still
away sick & so is Dr Gutheridge & Captain
Blezard who got pneumonia just the day before

Yesterday & went off to hospital. It is bright &

warm during the day but suddenly sets

[* in very cold in the evening unless they  you are careful

you are very apt to get a chill. Owing to my thick underclothing
which is a blessing [[?]] at night I thin have been all right so far
now my dearest me Goodbye & God bless and keep you my dear [[wee ?ing]]
my [[?]] precious darling loves & a million kisses loves to you [[?]]
I am sending you a different Stamps on this
letter you can keep them in the
caddie
→ Insert notes about postage too p 1 *]

2
The Villages near Alexandria are wretched
mud hovels. The people live in villages and not in

their own farms but go out and work on them The

villages seem to have been on the same [[?]]  for hundreds

of years and as the donkeys and camels & fowls etc

all live together in many cases in the houses

the seem built on high dung heaps & you
can smell them a mile away.  Even in
Cairo itself off the main Streets where the

police men enforce cleanliness the niggers
just  do their business up against the walls deposit their filth anywhere.
everywhere.  The same in all the old
ruined temples about which the  Visitors
rave. You have to hold your nose when you
go near the place. On arrival at Cairo
we were sent on out here by Electric tram
Cars.  We are camped on the West of a ridge
upon which the Great Pyramids  & the
Sphinx are built.  It is almost 10 miles
from Cairo Station.  Every morning the  Shadow

of the Pyramids is cast right across our

camp which is situated on the edge of the 

Sahara in desert land feet deep but as 
there ^ has been no practically no wind since we arrived
we have not been inconvenienced with dust

so far.  What it could be  like with a

strong wind the Lord only knows.  I believe they

3
have regular sand storms here just like Broken

Hill.  I have climbed up in the Great Pyramid
& seen the view from it. At first sight it is

disappointing as is the case  also with the
Sphinx after all we have heard of it but
after you have climbed up it you begin to have
more respect for it. The  climate at present
is simply delightful except that the nights
are rather to cold.  I paid a visit to the

city yesterda the day before yesterday. It is
certainly a wonderful city. There are miles &
miles of Toorak mansions occupied by the wealthy
Egyptians Arabs & Jews beautiful places to
look at from the outside &  I hear most luxurious
within. I went to one native shop . The manager
said he was a cousin of Wassianul Aspsinul
in Melbourne.  He had some wonderful things
solid gold candlesticks, set with diamonds
& emeralds. Bracelets etc. He says there is
a good sale of for all those things to Americans
tourists & others.  I bought a Camels Hair
Shawl with hand embroidery for "Nana" your mother &
a little inlaid bowl for you for Xmas & he packed

them up to send to you. The bowl is native work
here the shawl is made in Persia.  He showed
us a large one as big as a double quilt all worked
with embroidery [* = Go to Back of  P. 1  - Dr. Gutheridge *]