Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1914-1915, Part 3 of 27

[*P.S I have plenty of money so don't worry
(£6.12.0) & plenty of clean clothes. I hope
you are all well. I hope you get the 
money from the Barracks alright*]

Mena
Near Cairo
9th December
1914

Dearest Mother
Just a line to let you know that we are
here in the Sahara Desert right alongside the Pyramids &
are getting into shape for the Glorious time to come.
We arrived at Alexandria and disembarked & then
we entrained for Cairo. Our horses & men are very fit
and the journey through, alongside the Nile was simply
beautiful. I only wish I could describe it to you. All
the way down one could see the country on either side
which was irrigated & very prosperous & the natives &
their mud hut villages were very picturesque. The
Arabs themselves are very filthy living people as well as
disgusting beasts. They know no bounds to loading up
their poor little donkeys & then climb up themselves &
ride. Our fellows are always wanting to knock them down
but Kitchener made a law forbidding white men hitting
Arabs or other natives. Now about Cairo, Well Mother
it is a wonderful City & the houses are simply mansions
& exceed anything we have in Toorak or Melbourne, Of
course the Arab quarters are different & are as vile &
stinking places as one could imagine. Poverty is as
conspicious as enormous wealth. At 2 am the other
morning when we were marching out here, the poorer
classes could be seen lying asleep on bridges & in gate
ways & even on the pavements. We arrived at Cairo at
6 o'clock & detrained & went to the Barracks to water
& feed our horses & at midnight we had to march
out to our camping place (a distance of 10 Miles & leading
our horses too) & at 3.15 am, we arrived in camp &
proceeded to pitch camp & put down horse lines.

2
Well, it was very cold but our walk made us nice
& warm & as soon as we picketed our horses, we all
just lie down & got what sleep as we could get in 2½
hours & it was tremendously cold when we awoke.
However, the sun gets up early in the Desert & soon
gets to work & at 9 oclock, it is about 90 in the shade so
this will tell you what kind of weather it is like. The
Pyramids are right alongside our camp & are wonderful
things, They are made of enormous blocks of stone & each
one fitted in to each other & are about 400 feet high.
The Electric Trams run right out to the camp & of course
bring plenty of tourists to see the Pyramids. All the
dirty work to done by Arabs & other natives at camp &
the prinicipal method of conveyance is donkey carts &
camels. These poor creatures are called on to do enough
work to kill bullocks & the camels are loaded up
with baggage of all sorts. We get Leave of Absence of
a night & go into Cairo, & after having a tremendous feed,
stroll about the City & see the sights. All the money is
different & is in Piastres of which 97½ go to £1. There
are all kind of people in Cairo, French, Turks,
Arabs, English, Portugese, Italians, & Greeks, so there is
plenty of variety. All troops are not in camp yet, as
the boats have to wait some time to get through the
Suez Canal. All the Desert on the north west of
the Canal was flooded to prevent any Turks coming
that way. We were not allowed to land at Port Said
but what we could see of it, it was a stinking hole.
I was very glad to get off the old boat & it
was a treat to be on land again, I was that pleased
that I ran like blazes when I got ashore for about
200 yards. The native police thrash the Arabs
with canes & it is very funny to see them all going
for their lives with a "John" after them & vendors
selling oranges, Dates etc are knocked flying, and
as they stoop to pick them up, the "John" gives them
such a beauty over their rear as they pass

3
We passed several Harems on our way down from
Alexandria & saw the wealthy Egyptians with their
numerous wives sitting on the banks of the River &
of course we all gave them a great "Ahoy". But my
word, Mum, the women were beautiful, their complexion
exceeded anything I have ever seen, & dressed to kill.
They were not dressed in Harem skirts, but ordinary
stylish dresses. Other women were heavily veiled, &
have a peculiar shaped stick on their noses. The French
women in Cairo are remarkably beautiful & their
dresses are wonderful in more senses than one, & how
the devil they manage to get them to stick on I don't know
the dress doesn't go over their shoulders at all
Men of all classes only wear one sort of Hat, a
little red turks cap called a Fez, Arabs wear any-
thing that will go on, & the boys & girls up to 10 & 12
only a smile. We had a great "night out" the night
before last, & finished up at 3.30 am riding donkeys
It is very funny riding these poor little beasts & at
the same time cruel, as an Arab runs behind all
the way & thrashes his behind with a piece of
packing case. The Roads are all like Commercial
Road here, & have great trees all the way along &
meet over head & the Motor Cars go like mad.
I hope you got my other letters alright & I
hope to get some soon (I have only got 1 from Victoria
& that from Jack Tilton) I send my best love to every
body who enquires after me & to Aunts & Uncles,
Cousins & an extra ration to all at home & 2 extra
rations for yourself from your loving son
Norman
I am in the best of health.

All our washing to done for
1/6 per man per month by the
Arabs. I have plenty of
clothes & bed clothes /
We take Egypt & march through the
City on the 21^st of this month
so that means another Ribbon
[1 DRL 266*]

[* P.S. I have met several
old Christ Church Choir Boys
who are in different Forces*]

Mena Camp,
Cairo, Egypt. 19^th Dec

Dearest Mother and all at Home & Relations Elsewhere.
I have just received your letters from yourself & Mab &
have read them through about 48 times, I can't describe
the feeling it sent through me to get them either We
can only feel sorry for those who don't get letters & they
walk away very disappointed & "Crack hardy", Well I am
very grateful for the letters & am very sorry to think that
I can't write to everybody I would like to, but hope you
will let everybody know that I am as busy as a Sergeant of
the Artillery can only be. What with stables & Gun Drill
& signalling & all kinds of Riding & Driving Drill getting
ready for Kaiser Bill & Co, time is very scarce for
writing letters & Home must be first. We are quite
settled down in camp now & there must be 20,000 troops
here now & they are all getting into shape rapidly. We
get plenty to eat & drink & also plenty of clean clothes.
The natives do all the dirty work & we live like
lords of the Desert. The Arabs of the Desert have
magnificent ponies & the Officers & trying to get hold
of some. We have fine big tents which are double
& let a passage of air all around & even in the
hottest time of the day, the tents are beautifully cold.

2
You will be pleased to know that all the boys are
in the best of health & send their best wishes to everybody 
including Floss Robinson, who they can never forget.
I am in the best of health & am positive that I
have never felt better in my life & cannot expect to
I am as frisky as a horse & am rapidly losing
my "bingy" as I can take up my belt to the fifth
hole, whilst it was only the second hole at B'meadows
Don't laugh now please, we got orders that
no man is to shave his upper lip (Oh my) Fancy
me with [[7?]] hairs under my nose (What oh).
Cairo is still the same wicked place & I don't
go in very much of a night (about once a week & am
back in camp by 11 pm.) We are hiring a motor car
to take 7 of us Sergeants all around the place to-
morrow (Sunday) afternoon to see everything we can.
This afternoon, we went to the Pyramids & went
to the top of one. Oh my word, Mum, talk about
climing stairs, stairs 4 feet high & the Pyramid
was 470 feet high, I was thinking of you when I
was half way up. It takes 20 minutes to climb
it, going all the time, & when we got to the top, what
a sight we saw, it was well worth it, as the
sight was one we will never forget. Towards

3
Cairo, it was lovely & green & all cultivated & the
rivers & canals all running through the Arabs
villages was something beautiful & wonderful. On the
other side was the Desert & the whole of an under-
ground city that is being unearthed by an English
Syndicate & this goes to prove the mysteries of a
people who lived years o before Christ, all the
place is buried completely by the sand of the
Great Sahara Desert, & about the sand is sea shells
& yet we are hundreds of miles from the Sea, on the
other side we had a splendid view of the Camp & it
was a magnificent sight & the moving troops bd
looked like ants crawling along. We could see an
Arab funeral & burial from where we were. They make
a holiday of it, & all the men & women from miles
around attend & the service last about 4 hours. The
women all keep up a peculiar wailing all the time
On top of the Pyramid I carved the following
names. M. Ellsworth. Mab Ellsworth, Flos Robinson,
Rupert Ellsworth, Jack Tilton, Ruby Davidson, Alice
Butler, Nellie Wheeler, & a couple of others. So you
can tell your friends that your names are on the
top of the Pyramid of "Cheops" which is the tomb of
Ramesis & some Ancient King & Queen. We went in

4
side & it is simply marvellous, the outside stones are
only a covering to some of the most wonderful stone
dressed by human hands. First, we had to take
off our boots, because the floor is slanting & is
of beautiful transparent Alabastine & is smoother
than marble, & we had to stoop going through the
underground passages & our guide told us all
the news & a few lies chucked in. We saw the
actual place where Ramesis was laid & other
Mummies, who have been removed to Museums.
The walls of the vaults were of marble & Granite
& each piece was over 16 feet long & 8 feet thick
& 8 feet high & how they were got into positions
are only to make one wonder the more. The
ceiling also was of massive granite pieces,
beautifully dressed & goes to prove that the people
who built these Pyramids were cleverer than the
people who live now-adays. Our Guide had a fight
with another guide over the tomb of Ramesis. The
fact is each guide was trying to talk the loudest
& because our Chap won (he looked like the Caliph)
the other spat at him, so our sport sailed into him
& gave him two lovely right swings on to his jaw
& then clutched him by the throat & nearly

5
throttled him & it was only by our persuasions that
he desisted. In the midst of the fight, which was
conducted in candle light, Harry Braithwaite
disappeared with a fearful howl into a hole
in the floor about 3 feet deep. Of course he didn't
know this, & thought that he was falling into the
bowels of the Earth, however Braiths was soon
pulled out & set on his feet again to his great
relief. The tomb is divided off into two sections. One
for the Kings & one for the Queens. The branches
& passages run in all directions & some go up &
some go down, but no matter where one goes, it is
all wonderful. I will tell you the fuller details
when I come home. The Proclamation was read
yesterday, but there was no military display, & the
population took things very quietly & beyond a
few Union Jacks, there was no demonstrations what
ever, altho' the people are pleased that the British are
over them. Well Mother dear, I must now close as
it is bed time. I do hope you are well & all at home
& Charles & Ettie & family, George, Aunts & Uncles &
Cousins, Jack Tilton, Rupert, Mab & Floss & "Gillie"
& everybody, to make a long story short. Best love
to yourself & all at home & Miss Taylor, from
your loving son Norman (write soon)

Tell Rupert that the
little donkeys are bonzer
to ride on /
I've bought a watch from
Cairo for 16/- & it is a beauty.
George I'm in love with Soldiering


I hope you get the money alright
& without any trouble.
I have tons of money & get paid
weekly. Please write & tell me if
you want some & I'll send it to
you straight away.
When we go into town we dine
at "Shepherds" which is the Menzies
& the come home in a Car