od of Cairo. For part of
the journey the railway ran parallel with and in sight of the Canal.
Near Ismailia it turned west and led across the northern part of the
Arabian Desert (once the Land of Goshen) to Zagazig, where it took
another turn, to the south-west, and entered the capital. Though almost
entirely desert, the country was not without interest to the new
arrivals. Sand was not unknown in Western Australia, but had never been
seen over such tremendous tracts and giving off such colours which,
probably due to atmospheric influences, had very distinctive beauty.
Here and there the oases, and the irrigation areas, were marked by palm
trees or by crops of a vivid green hue. There was also seen much that at
once directed attention to the fact that the land was one famed in
biblical history. The costumes of the natives; the flat-roofed
mud-coloured dwellings; the old fashioned wells, the hooded and veiled
women bearing pitchers on their heads, the humble donkey, and the more
dignified camel, instantly carried minds back to the pictures that were
popular in childhood's days.

By midnight the last of the troops, detrained at a military siding near
by, had reached the camp and taken shelter for the time being in a
number of open-sided wooden huts.

The camp site, called Abbasia--after the adjacent quarter of Cairo, was
in the desert just north of the Suez Road and about five miles from the
centre of the city. The ground here was quite flat, and had been
extensively used at different times for military reviews. It was also
near the scene of a battle in 1517, when the Turkish conqueror, the
Sultan Selim, overthrew the Egyptians. A second battle took place here
in 1800, on which occasion General Kleber with 10,000 French defeated
six times that number of Turks. On the west side were situated the
cavalry and infantry barracks, at that time occupied by the 2nd Mounted
Division (Yeomanry). To the north lay the quarters and hospital of the
Egyptian Army units doing guard and escort duty for the new Sultan.
North-east, a little over a mile away, the new city of Heliopolis, with
its splendid buildings, was in full view. In other directions only the
desert was to be seen, marked here and there with low hills--the highest
being Jebel Ahmar, an outpost of the Moqattam Range.

The first day in the new camp was one of discomfort and worry. No
brigade or divisional staffs were present to assist and advise as to the
new conditions.