Letters from Wilfred Evans to his family, 1915 - Part 7

giraffes which were much larger & taller
than I had anticipated, monkeys in
abundance, jackals, hyenas, lions,
tigers in fact any old thing you
would like to mention. We had tea at
the refreshment room which overlooks a
pond covered with a water lily which
flowers very well, has a blue tinge & 
makes the place very gay. Unlike the
Barage the tea was beautiful & we had
very nice cakes, & being an excessively
hot day we thoroughly enjoyed it.
The gardens at the zoo are beautifully
kept & are green with flowers & shrubs
scattered about.  We sought another
garry after finishing the zoo & returned
to Cairo & I went on to Kirk while
the others came out here to dinner. I
thoroughly enjoyed the sermon, it
was one of the most thoughtful &
well connected sermon I have heard
for a long time.  I did not feel inclined
for anything to eat after service so
went to Heliopolis and looked for
Wesley but could not find him
so came on here & then had a
little dinner as it was still to be had.

Later 21.8.15
I learnt today my dear, that no mail
leaves until the 2^nd of September so
that means that you will be a month
or nearly so without a letter for which
I am deeply grieved.  I understand that mails
go only about 3 times in a month & that
there is an interval of a week between two of
them & a fortnight between the other & I
unfortunately missed the one before the long
gap.  I had better cable you I think in
about a months time or a little less
so that you will not be over anxious
Week end cables go for about ¼ rates
so are not so very expensive if sent that
way.  I have at last succeeded in getting
a horse for myself, although it has taken
almost a month to do it owing to military
red tape.  However I succeeded in obtaining
an order this week & went down to the remount
depot at Abassiah some three miles
away to pick one.  I borrowed a nag
& was accompanied by a groom from
here to bring it back & managed to
pick up a lieutenant who was going
down to the soldiers' detention barracks
(where any soldiers who commit offences are
punished) on business.  So we formed

quite a cavalcade but succeeded in getting
a nice little nag.  They have generally
between 5000 & 6000 horses there, though
I believe that their numbers have been
reduced lately as some have been sent 
probably to the Dardanelles where
for a long time they have had no use
for horses.  They are tethered in great
long lines covered by a kind of
matting roof, & secured by their head
& one heel. They sound a bugle at feeding
time & all the horses know the particular
call & make a frightful fuss as soon
as it is blown - neighing & jumping round.
By the time we returned it was after one
o'clock & we were tired & hot.  Today
being Saturday I managed to have a run out
in company with Major Norris and Lieutenant
Murray from here & this time actually succeeded
in finding the museum & explored it.  It is
a new building of good appearance from
the front but very bare from the back.
There is a most wonderful & interesting
collection of Egyptian curiosities there
which have been dug out & classified
after years of patient research.  To the
ordinary sight seer & I fear that I

come under that classification the mummies
are the most interesting features though
I was really more taken by the glorious
carving & sculpture works.  You remember
the plates on the back of many Bibles
representing these carvings of numerous 
figures fruit furniture etc, those give only
a poor idea of the excellence of the original
The amount of detail is marvellous &
the illustrations in many cases are
accompanied by writings to comment on
them.  There are huge carved statues
representing men who lived in past
ages about three times the ordinary size
of man - beautifully done although
the hands & feet tend to be rather
square and spade like in most cases
with abnormally long fingers & toes.
The amount of work on the outer coverings
of the corpses which are somewhat
like coffins is tremendous, the whole
thing being covered in many cases with
hundreds of tiny drawings & generally
on top a model of the deceased face
& all complete.  There are specimens of
the sepulchres also, great solid
stone arrangements with huge stone lids

The mummies are to most people the most
interesting objects though I did not find
them so - the carving appealed to my
taste to a greater extent.  They are in many 
cases taken out of their wrappings to
a great extent & are withered shrivelled
up objects not particularly pleasant
to look on, reminded me forcibly of
my old dissecting days.
It is strange that on Sunday evenings
about teatime or church time my thoughts
turn to Candelo more than at any other
& I can see the little church with the funny 
little parson with his vagaries of speech &
all the old familiar faces & you & father
in the same old seat.  Then I wonder
how you are whether you are very lonely
& sad & grieving about me being
so far away & hope to heaven that it
is not so & that you are quite reconciled.
The unfortunate part is that letters are so
erratic & one cannot hear how you all are.
I have not managed to write to any
of the family yet but as you are
sending the letters round I am sure
they will pardon it.  I have not yet
been able to buy anything to send

along, the reason being that one will
assuredly pay exorbitant prices for shoddy
articles if he does not know the value
of things & I have not yet been able to get
the services of anyone who does.  There
are curios to be had at the museum
at which I was looking yesterday
which I think you would only
appreciate by throwing them in the
fire - little carved figures of wood
really models of the real things in
the museum but some of the others
might like them.  There is a bazaar
here where silks & such things can
be obtained - I must try to get
some soon if I can get to know
the inside running.  I have to send
a present to Cappita Job for her
wedding too.  I think my dear
I will close this letter & post it
so that I may catch the mail
without doubt & if no other goes
before September 2^nd I will write
another & you will get them together.
Much love to all including Suey & her
old man, Harry and Ern and their
respective old women, farmer John
father bigger, & a special share for mother
from her loving son, Wilf.

Aug 19

Zeitoun,
August 29^th. 1915.

My dear mother,
you may receive my last
letter at the same time as this, but I
hope that it managed to catch some
mail or other that I did not know of.
I'm afraid this will be a short letter
as there is very little extra to tell you.
I have been however to another of the
interesting places in Egypt - the native
bazaar.  It is situated not very
far from the centre of the city, & the
street which leads to it the El Mooski
is one of the main streets of the native
part of the town & one of the oldest
but is exceedingly narrow. We drove
along in a garry, two other fellows
from here accompanying me & when
we reached the bazaar walked through
it. The bazaar itself consists merely
of a large number of excessively
narrow alleyways for the main
part not wide enough to admit a
vehicle & each separate alley or street

contains shops which sell only one
variety of stuff for instance there is
the scent bazaar which is really the
only one we had a good look at, & the
goldsmiths' bazaar, the silk bazaar
& so on.  The shops are very small as a
rule consisting usually of one room
facing directly on the street.  We pulled
up at the scent bazaar & enquired
about the scents.  We were given three
seats & the shopkeeper sent for three
cups of Persian tea, (we voted for that
instead of coffee) & when this came we
sat round & talked, sipped the tea
& smoked amber cigarettes which
he also provided us with. This was all
gratis & so far no mention was made
of such a thing as buying or selling
goods. However when the tea was
finished we gradually approached
the delicate subject.  The shopkeeper
was a young pale flabby obese
Egyptian - they are nearly all
fat pale & flabby - who spoke
English well. Fle He anointed the
sleeves of our jackets with various
varieties of perfume which smelt

so delightful that I decided to buy
some to send home. It is supposed
to be very concentrated & good & is
expensive about 2/- a dram. They say
that it can be diluted by putting one
dram in one pint of spirit & is then
quite strong enough but candidly I
don't believe them. I got some amber
which is the native made scent & otto
of roses which I am sending on
but am rather doubtful if you
will get them as I understand
that parcels are often pilfered
or lost. After buying these we were fell
into the clutches of one of the Government
paid native guides, who dragged us
off rather against our will to see a
very old house once occupied by 
Mehemet Ali or some of  other of the
old Sultans.  It had been a very
fine old place with a courtyard in
the centre, roof garden on top &
various winding stairs, fine dining
hall of tremendous height with
beautifully emblazoned ceiling. All
the fine old decorative work had
gone however & for the most part