Letters of Athol Cluny McPherson, January to March 1915 - Part 6

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alongside these & there are men excavating in
there for the American Museum & nobody is
allowed on certain parts of it, there must be
acres of a buried City, it must be very interesting
work. There is a tremendous difference in these
Pyramids the way they are built, they say
that the builders ran out of stone when they
finished the Great one & had to use inferior
stuff for the others, they dont look nearly as
well & are a bit inclined to break down by
degrees, like the mountains do, but nevertheless
it is wonderful how they were built. I'd
give a trifle to know, there is a big hole
in the same side of the big Pyramid as the
door, its is about 60 feet deep & the guide told
us it is where King Cheops [[?]] to see how far
the stone went down to find a foundation
for the Pyramid, there is a sort of stone
wall on the West side of the Great ^second Pyramid
that has tombs all along, it would be
lovely to know the true history of them
all, the guides tell us who they belonged
to& who was buried there, but by all
accounts they are lovely liars & you
 

4
cant believe half they say. We are having
fairly hot weather here now, but it is better
than being up in France by all accounts.
I heard a fellow lecture in the Y.M.C.A.
here a few nights ago on the war & its effects
in England, he told us that Kitchener was
asked when he thought the war would end
& his reply was "I dont know when it will
end, but it will start about May." I guess
he means to hit the Germans hard then, the
same way as he did the Dervishers, he also
told us that he had an interest in one
of the largest Woolen Mills in Scotland &
that all the other powers had to go there
woolen goods this year & he predicted
from a the twenty to a thirty Per Cent rise in
Wool as soon as the sales open as the Germans
destroyed the mills in Lille which were worth
millions & France will have to get woolen goods
from England in consequence. Well Mother
Dear I'm writing this letter early as I'm not too
sure that will lie here for long & I dont want to
miss the mail, I'm going to write to Alley if I can
Must close now With tons of love to all at home
not forgetting yourself I remain always
yr loving son
Athol
 

Roth Burtchall told me today that
Lieutenant Ross of his Coy told them
today that as far as the officers know
we are going to Palestine soon, but we
never know what to believe here, the
officers dont seem to know anymore
than we do. Its funny you mentioning
about the loan through Parky, you
said in a letter not long ago that - "you
had resolved to carry on as you were" &
i thought you had left something
out, you never said anything about
how you meant to carry on., you should
carry on through alright. I had
a letter from Uncle Alfred this mail
& I'm glad he had a good season down
there. although the rain seemed to have
come fust in time for them, I'll try
to answer his letter by this mail
I saw some of the Turkish Prisoners
in Cairo this week, they are a very
sorry looking lot & a bit fierce
looking as well, one of the Turks
"Terriers" who guard outside the barred
 

4

windows that we passed & he said to
us -"Do you want to see the wild beasts"-
they just looked like it through the
windows, they are dressed in all sorts
of rags & lying on straw looking through
the bars of the windows, they are the Prisoners
taken at the Canal. I believe the N.Zs
were in action on the Canal although
there was nothing about it in the Paper
they had two killed & by all accounts
gave a very good account of themselves.
Well Father as I intend to write to Mother
by this mail I will close. With Heaps
of love to all at home & hoping all
are well. I remain
Ever your loving Son
Athol C M^cPherson
 

Mena Camp
Egypt 13/2/15
My Dearest Mother
As this is Sunday once again I must
send you a few lines to let you know that I am
well & hope you were ^are the same.  I was sorry
to hear by your letter that Harry was unlucky enough
to get the [[?]] "Eczema" & hope he will soon be
alright again, as you say it shouldnt have much
of a hold on him & if nurse Martin can cure
you after about eighteen years of it, she should
have no difficulty in curing him, I'm very glad
that yours is so much improved & hope it
will soon be gone. Was In Ciaro yesterday
& had a fairly good time, theres no mistake
Ciaro is a very interesting place to live, we went
through the museum first of all & had a good
look around & it is a museum, talk about mummie's
the place is full of them & old coffins by the
score. I saw the ones of Ramsis the 11_3 & I think
4th the third is just marvellous, the paint
is still on the head & even on the eyebrows
& chin, some of the coffins are huge
things, made of solid granite & must weigh
 

2
tons, there is also a great supply of old jewels
thousands of years old, a great lot of it is gold, there
are also old xxxx knives & daggers of [[Queens?]] of
long ago, there are also a couple of old Roman
^war chariots it is ^they are on two wheels & they are fastened
on with keys, the same as the ones on the
Ackland Ploughs & the wheels are about the size
of the wheel that runs on the ploughed ground
From the museum we had a look round Ciaro
& came to the mosque, a guide took us through
it, we had to putslippers on over our boots before
going in, they meet you at the door wit them
& tie them on, it is alright going through
it is used as a school & church combined as far
as I could tell, they we teaching on Blackboards
in some parts of it & praying in others, theres
is also a fountain & the people get all round
it (as it has a sort of trap trough all round)
a wash their feet & then go back inside &
xxxx Pray, they get down on their knees & hands
& kiss the ground, there is also a very high
tower & winding steps right up to the top, it
put me in mind of the tower we went up
at the Fire Brigade in Melbourne but of course
 

3
there isnt a lift, we could see all over Ciaro
from the top of it, the stairs wind round & round like
a cork screw, we could see all over ^old Ciaro from it xxxx
including the citadel an old fort of Napoleons, In Im
going out to it the next chance I get, there is an
a petrified forrest near it where the trees have
turned into stone & the leaves are still on them
they are just the same as ordinary stone
as hard as bricks, some of our fellows were
out there yesterday & brought a piece of stone
back.