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Show IIEAI9E5I FOR EGYPT ON BOARD A TROOI SHIP Life on board a troop ship headed for Egypt by a very roundabout route is described by a member of the first unit of the American Field Service whose letter x& written last December. As this first unit has now arrived ar-rived in Cairo it is possible to release the following account, ac-count, according to Dr. John R. Nochols, executive dear of Idaho Southern and Idaho representative of this volunteer vol-unteer ambulance service. "There are about a hundred of us. When we left New York we were taken by train to a port where after waiting wait-ing a day or two we embarked on a troopship a largt modern passenger liner converted to carry troops which we've been on ever since. There are 20 of, us in a cabin 12x15 in wire bunks in tiers of three. We have two portholes just about big enough for a man to crawl out of. It sounds worse than it really is, for we're comfortable com-fortable despite the crowding. Some troops that have been stuck in the hold of the ship are living under pretty miserable conditions. We've been treated rather well inasmuch as we got the best quarters on the boat that weren't given to officers. "Two weeks later. "There is much more I'm allowed to say now. We are 1 in India awaiting trans shipment to our destination, which even we are not sure of. The garrison at which we're stationed is on a dry and dusty plaeteau in the interior in-terior of the country. We aren't allowed to name it, i but it wouldn't mean much to you anyway. It's a rest or transient camp and not a permanent station. However, How-ever, even here life is rather a luxurious affair full of good food, servants, idleness and observations of the natives. na-tives. Each man, private to general has his own per- - sonal body servant in attendance from before sunrise until after sunset for 8 annas (16 cents a week). There isn't a'thing he can't or won't do. I have a funny little fellow assigned to me named Nandu. Nights are cold here and each morning 5 minutes before reveille I am served hot tea in bed. If you choose you may have a special barber come around to shave you as you lie in bed. Men with cakes, tea, strange fruits, cocoanuts, and dates come around all day, from whom a good meal may be obtained for 4 cents. Laundry is on the house. "Everything around here is based on the hot dry climate. cli-mate. Our barracks which are comfortable and spacious spa-cious are constructed of woven grass on a framework of wood. The floor is a cement platform which is eternally eter-nally covered with dust and grit. In face the dust is everywhere ev-erywhere in the food, in one's hair, bed, throat, eyes, water; even the air is filled with a smoky red brown haze of dust that makes, the country look like a Dali . painting for the few miles one can see. On a clear day one has ten miles of view from a mountain top. It never rains in this part of the year which is the equivalent of winter elsewhere. Local riverbeds are nearly dry and are used ag fieds in which to grow rice until they fill up 1 again in the next 60 days. There are no woods or forests, for-ests, only isolated trees here and there. The terrain which is dead level, broken only by a few mesa-like hills is covered by dried up yellow brown grass and rocks. No wpod is ever used with which to build only stone, mud and mud bricks. "Three of us took a! trip north of here to the city of Arsangabad in the state of Hyderabad which is ruled by His Exalted Highness, the Nizam. Arsangabad is an archaeologist's ar-chaeologist's paradise, full of ruins of several separate civilizations. Nearby at Ellora is one of the sights of India In-dia 33 temples carved out of the side of a rock mountain. moun-tain. The letter closes with a request for news of America. |