Letter from Pte. David SCOTT 613 to his Mother dated 08/02/1915

“The Cairo Young Men’s Christian Association / WITH THE / New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Zeitoun Camp, Egypt” letterhead printed with “Address / Pte. D. Scott / B Coy of 16th Batt / 4 Bdg / A.I.F. / Egypt / Heliopolis / Egypt / 8/2/15” and “Dear Mother / No doubt will be / surprised at not receiving a letter / from me before, well I have / wrote several (PC) & a letter [sic] / & suppose you have got them by / this, I have not received a letter / from you since we left Victoria. / Every mail I look for one, we had / splendid trip, never a rough / day the whole way. Aden was / our first port of call we lay / there three days, but they would / not have us land, we had a / quiet trip up the canal / going to be easily beaten / & you may depend on the / Colonial troops to hold the / canal. Well we are camped / about four or five miles / from Cairo, we going to / settle down to work / now, hard training long / marches on the desert, drill / from morning till night / day after day till we are / fit to go into the firing line. / I have be into Cairo [sic] / It is the dirtiest city I have / ever seen, it is full of disease / of sorts, there are a great many / places of interest in Egypt / to be seen, I went out yesterday / to the Pyramids, but did / see. We reached Port Suez / early in the morning, It was there / that we first that the turks were / preparing for an attack on the / canal in fact the patrols had / come to blows with & killed some / of them, It took us two days / to get through the canal / since we have to come through / the canal there has be / some fairly sharp / fighting. We may have to / go to the canal before long / to fight, But the first coaling into have the first call, well / if we have to go the sooner / the better, it will suit me / right down to the ground. Now don’t worry, they are / have time to go through them But next time / will go through them, It / is a very pretty train ride / down or up the ride it is / green for miles, but as soon / as you get away from / the irrigation area it is / nothing but barren sand. / I suppose Geroge will soon / be on the way here, will / there is plenty of work / to done in Europe when / when the war is over. / I hope this letter will find / you well as leave me at / present, I will close with / to all from your loving / Son / xxxx David Scott”