Letters from Arthur Seaforth Blackburn to his family, 1941 - Part 18

Lt Col AS Blackburn
Sx6962 2/3 MG Bn
AIF. Abroad.
16/8/41.

My darling Wody.
I was thrilled more than I can tell you
to get a letter from you all typed. I have carefully checked
it through and cannot find one single mistake anywhere.
I think you are really marvellous. It was such a lovely
long letter too. I was so sorry to hear, dear, that you had been
a bit off color, but thank goodness it was only for a day
or so. There has been lots of that biliousness about over here
but after one attack of it before the Syrian campaign started
I have managed to miss it. Your story about Miss Annie
is certainly amusing - and yet what a natural thing to say
"Don't be sick until I get you a bucket"- and yet of course
quite absurd. You are really too gay with your parties old
dear. I do hope you enjoy them all as I know you deserve
to. You& Jim seem to have had a hectic time winning the
treasure hunt! I am longing to hear whether your team won
the shield - I feel certain it did as I know you would
carry them on to win if anyone could! Mummy told me
about the wonderful dinner you cooked her - crumbed
cutlets, creamed potatoes & celery. I wonder if you know how
much I would like to eat a dinner cooked by you. The
mere thought of it makes my mouth water.

2/

In my last family letter to Bob I told him about a re some of the
things I saw on a recent trip over part of Syria. In the course of it
I again went to Damascus. I could easily spend a month or more
in that city as I think it is about the most interesting place I have
ever seen. This time amongst other places I went to the Church
of St Paul. This I believe is absolutely the old church in the world
which still exists and is a really remarkable place. After St Paul's
conversion he continued for a time in Damascus & then a persecution
of the Christians  commenced. So severe did it become that the
Christians were quite unable to worship  openly. They therefore
hollowed out an underground church and built secret
tunnels leading to it from the surrounding houses. It is alleged
that the church was never discovered by the Romans. It is
still in existence and is still carried on as a church. It opens
(now) off a small courtyard of a house in a very narrow
street in the Christian quarter of Damascus. (Of course in those
days there were no steps leading directly down to it as
there are now) It is about 30 feet underground & is cut
out of the rocks & earth. It has a beautiful stone Altar
with a cross cut out of the stone. Coming into it are
narrow dark passages just wide enough for one person
to crawl along which lead from the surrounding houses.
There are two of these passages, one coming in from one
side & one from the other. In course of time they have become
filled in further along the street & amongst other houses

3/

but it is alleged that traces of the passages can be found
quite a long way away from the church. It is a wonderful
thing to stand on that floor & realise that at that altar
St Paul himself conducted service & that the ancient Christians
crawled along these passages for many many years to
attend those services! A little further on along the street I
saw a silkworker making silk in a way that is, I am told,
nearly as old as Damascus & that is alleged to be one of the oldest
cities known still in existence. I really am quite unable to
describe the process to you but I can tell you that his machinery
was made entirely of wood worked by treadle operated by foot.
The rolls or reels is more accurate of silk - 4 different colors & apparently genuine silk - 
worm silk - hung from the roof & the shuttles were all wooden.
The operator was a queer wizened old man who did not
even look up when I came to the door. His machine just
went on, the shuttles moving backwards & forwards & the finished
product, a bit of floral silk gradually emerging on the loom.
It has occurred to me that you might be a bit interested
in the propaganda which we have got out & which it
is part of my job to distribute amongst the Vichy
French troops so I am sending you a number of them
by surface mail. You can amuse yourself trying
to translate them all! By the way I also sent you
yesterday by surface mail a book of views of
Damascus. It is easily the best I have seen & gives

4/

some idea of the beauties & interest of the city. I saw another
extraordinary sight here today - I am constantly seeing new things
which amaze me. There is a big building being put up
near here, all of course of stone, bricks being practically unknown.
The stone is obtained from anywhere at all about here as
the whole hillside & in fact all the hills are mainly
stone & rock. These natives are very expert at chipping the
stone into the exact size & shape they want. Well today I
saw four men lifting up a colossal stone. It took, or
seemed to take, all four of them to lift it & then another man
bent down & they rested the stone on his back & shoulders.
Then with one man sh supporting each side of him, one
man walking in front to whom he clung & one man
helping to support the stone in rear, he slowly walked
along with the stone on his back for about 100 yds to
the place where it had to go. It was then lifted off his
back by another four men & he returned for another one.
Why on earth they don't use a  wheel barrow or even a donkey
is beyond me, but I don't think I have ever seen a man
carrying such an enormous load on his back. He was
bent nearly double & just shuffled along a few inches
at a time. Nobody took the slightest notice & on making
enquiries I found that that was the usual method
employed by each gang of stone masons for moving
their stones! A day or two ago I again visited Baalbek

5/

where I saw those ruins about which I wrote to you previously.
I have sent to mummy a snap of myself & another Col. taken in front
of the ruins of the Temple of Bacchus - the smallest of the temples.
The whole of the ceiling of this temple, which was of stone, was
covered with marvellous carvings of Bacchus & the other gods.
Inside the wall is a stone staircase which leads right up to
the roof & which I climbed. To give you an idea of its width i.e. of the walls, there is
ample room for any person however fat to walk up the stairs
without inconvenience. The staircase consists of 84 stone steps
& is a winding staircase all within a limit of not more than
nine feet i.e. the lateral space occupied by the winding staircase
is not more can nine feet. Every stone and the sides all the
way up are worn so. smooth that they shine brightly & are just
like velvet to touch - that is a bad simile, perhaps I should say
just like very smooth glazed pottery - and that is through centuries
of use by human beings. At the top you emerge through a doorway
of solid granite - which by the way came all the way down the nile &
then was carried across to Baalbek - onto the roof & stand on top
of the pillars which are at the back of me in the snap I have
sent. I discovered when over there, what I had not
realised before, that the big temple at this place, the temple of
Jupiter was one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world.
The city used to be called Heliopolis. If you look up those
reference books I think it is or some other book we have
in the book case you will read all about that temple.

6/

Well Wody my darling my space is just about full up as
I am frightened to put more than five pages in a letter
nawa days. I am looking forward immensely to getting another
nice "newsy" typed letter from you. I do so hope you
won the basket ball & so captained the winning team. It
would be a real thrill. I am still waiting for another
letter from Bob as it is quite a long time since I had
one. However I realise that you must have been
very busy; still drop me a line as soon as you can
old man. I will write to you next week Margie
darling. I do enjoy your weekly letters and all
the news you tell me in them.
Goodbye dears for the time being. I am keeping
absolutely fit and well. It is rather boring having
nothing much to do but still I suppose that can't
be helped & being on this job helps to break the
monotony.
Much love to you all
Daddy
Arthur S Blackburn