Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 1 - Part 7 of 12

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Street, with Egyptians riding along it on wee
grey donkeys, perched right on their rumps,
same as one sees in the very old Biblical
Pictures. The filth & stinks are indescribable
in the old parts of Cairo, while the newer
parts are just the opposite. Crossing the
Nile landed us at Gezireh, where the No 2
Aust. General Hospital is situated in a lovely
Palace in beautiful grounds. That is where
Mattie Chisholm is a Sister, so I ll go & see her
when I am able to get away. We drove round
the Palace & along the river, past the English
Club Grounds & The Anglo American Golf
Club, both very nice places &  just crossed
by another Bridge back into Cairo.
The Nile is fairly wide, & very brown
muddy colour, running pretty swiftly.
This time the old Johnnie driving the
Garry brought us through a very high
class residential quarter & pointed out
General Maxwells Quarters & Lord
Kitcheners House (I suppose he occupied it
when he lived in Egypt) Both very fine
places, with the Union Jack up & sentries

4

round the entrance. Also pointed out a
few Sultanas Palaces to, but I cannot
remember the names of these bally old dagoes
at all. We passed the Khedives Palace,
which is a very large & elaborate Palace.
Heaps of Soldiers about, & Archways at
either side of the entrance gates, with a
Lancer as black as the Ace of Spades, sitting
immovable on a very black horse in each
of the Arches. Imitation Royal Horse
guard I suppose, but they did look very
fine, with a slight touch of red in their
Uniforms. It is wonderful to notice the
dominating influence of the British here.
By jove the natives do have to Kow Tow.
It is hard for a while not to remember that
an Officer must not move on one side to
avoid bumping into a native. The correct
thing is to walk right through one if he does
not get out of the road. Roar out "Imishi"
& give him a cut with a stick. He soon
moves then. Of course this does not apply
to high class Egyptians, but to the dirty rabble
that throngs the City & seeks Backsheesh

5

without any provocation whatsoever.
You can imagine how I will behave after
about six months of this, when I come
home to you & Johnnie. There are wild
rumours afloat today that there is an
Australian Mail in, & Oh Dearie I hope
it is true, I am longing for news of you
& the Boshter & I know there will be such
a lovely letter for me soon. It makes me
feel all the prouder of you & Johnnie, when
I see the miserable little skeletons of kids
knocking about over here. There are certainly
plenty of them, heaps of them with inherent
syphillis, which is not pleasant to gaze upon.
I don't know whether I look green or not, or
whether it is on a/c of my having a silver
mounted stick, (the Officers generally carry
plain white canes) but I come in for a lot
of importunations. One of the soldiers took
a couple of oranges from a nig the other
day & the old Josser cried to me for nearly an
hour. Missa Capitan, Missa Capitan Oh a Oh a
1. 2. 3, holding his hand up a little higher
each time to show he had 3 children at home

6

weeping copiously & showing his teeth at the
same time. I had the Company out & I got
jolly sick of it. The wail haunted me for a
day & I would have given the old Bounder a
Piastre if the men had not been there. Anyway
we came back to Camp & just as we were
marching off, another Johnnie named
Abdul or something came along & joined him
& away they went together larking like a couple
of kids. He really earned something for his
persistency. As soon as I can get some time
off in the day, I want to go to Town to buy you
& Johnnie some memento of Cairo. I suppose
I'll be taken down horribly, as you know whow I
dislike bargaining. Have had no chance of
going to the Pyramids yet, but I will go next
Sunday if I am not detailed for any duties
in Camp. No more now, old Pettie Girl.
Will have been here a week tonight & I know about
as much now as when I landed about my future
movements, but I am becoming more & more
convinced, that it will be a long time before I
leave Egypt. See no chance in the immediate future
at all events. Love to all at Kinellan & heaps for
you & Johnnie.  Your loving Husband
Cecil.

No 6 No 6

Mrs C. B. Mills
c/. Dr A Burne
Kinellan
Dalley St
Waverley
New South Wales
Australia 

Lt C B Mills
6/23 Batt
 

Zeitoun
5th Nov. Dec 1915.

Hulloo Pettie
Well Dearie there was
wild excitement this morning, some Aust.
letters arrived, but on investigation, they
turned out to be letters addressed to the
Transport at Port Melbourne, that were not
delivered there, so there was nothing doing
for me. Anyhow there is a possibility at
any time now of getting a letter & Oh Dearie
it will be great to see your handwriting on an
envelope. After tea on Thursday we started
out on a night march for a couple of hours
& it was not bad fun, going through native
villages. I think they have these marches to
impress the natives. It certainly should
have the desired effect, seeing a column of
men about 1/2 a mile long going along without
any sound except the clinking of accoutre-
ments & the tramp of feet, But the picnic
day was on Friday afternoon, we started
at 2.30 on a route march with about 2000
men & marched right along through the
irrigation area. It was lovely, Canals everywhere

2/

& most luxurious vegetation on all sides.
After our Parade ground on the Desert it
was "some" change, lovely roads to walk
on & natives scurrying along with oranges
& chocolates to sell whenever there was a
halt called. Altogether it was a lovely
afternoon & I can do with a route march
like that at least once a week. Went into
Cairo for a look round Saturday afternoon,
intended to go to the zoo, but the train was
so confoundedly late we could not get there
in time, so we simply went for a stroll
round & met different Aust. Chaps, from
Privates up to Captains. By the way Jim
Hancock, the Canons son is in the 23rd Battn.
Two lots of Reinforcements ahead of ours. I
saw him this morning coming back from
his bath. I get pretty sick of Cairo, unless
one has any distinct objective, just to Buzz
round one does not see anything new.
Four of us had made up our mind that
we would go to the Pyramids today after
Church Parade. To our horror when Orders came
out last night, the 4 of us were all detailed for

3/

Fatigue Duty. We had to take 200 men,
starting at 7 AM & erect tents for the
Brigade about 2 miles away. We got back
about 1.30 PM, hot, dusty, thirsty &
very hungry, as I only had a cup of
Coffee & 2 biscuits before starting. It was
laughable the way the 4 of us fell in, but
no doubt we will be able to go next Sunday.
I rested for the remainder of the afternoon
& so did the rest of us. Anyhow we saved
our money. Poor old Newey had £8  stolen
out of his tent yesterday morning, Nasty
knock wasn't it. I have not got it to be
stolen. Have not drawn any pay yet  Ive
still got about £4. Paid my mess a/c up
to the end of the month & my entrance
fee, so Im right until the New Year. Everything 
points to us staying here for a good
long time, the Officers at all events, that is
unless there is any native uprising that they
want the Infantry for. I don't mind if we do
have a good long stay, as the longer we are
here the better we will be for the scrap & from
the little bits of news that appears in the Press

4/

in Egypt, it is a long way from being over yet.
Well Dearest I've been away from you for
a long time now. It does seem ages. If I
could only get regular news each day of how
you were it would not be so bad. I am keeping
awfully fit, so you must have no worries
on that score & there is very little chance
of my going away to the front for a long
time, so you need not worry on that score
either for a good while yet. The longing to
be home with you & Johnnie is very big tonight,
but the day when I will be home with you
gets nearer each day. No more in this
letter old Darling. Going to turn in, & have
an extra early night & up at 1/4 to 6 in
the morning. Big love to you both
from your loving Husband
Cecil.
Funny how we used to curse the Brigade at Broady
& then to be detailed to erect their tents here.
Weather is still perfect. Cold at night, but as
soon as the sun comes up it is lovely.
More love Dearie Girl.
CBM.