Turkish Prisoners in Egypt Part 2

_Sickness._--Sick prisoners are transferred from the camps to the hospital in specially fitted motor vehicles. The English doctors without exception praise the patience and brave endurance of pain shown by the Turkish prisoners. The cases treated in the hospital up to January 2, 1917, the date of our visit, are a.n.a.lysed below.

Turks Bulgarians Germans Tuberculosis 27 0 0 Bacillar dysentery 37 3 2 Malaria 3 0 0 War wounds 74 2 4 Anaemia and weakness 30 12 5 Various 96 5 0 --- --- --- Totals 267 22 11 === === ===

There is no epidemic disease in the hospital.

_Deaths._--Sixty-six Turkish prisoners died in the Abba.s.siah hospital between August 8, 1916, and January 1, 1917.

From Dysentery 45 " Tuberculosis 9 " Beri-beri 1 " Malaria 1 " War wounds 9 " Typhoid fever 1 --- 66 ===

In addition, one German prisoner died of pneumonia. As regards deaths from dysentery, most of the prisoners attacked by the disease came from the Hedjaz, and were in a seriously weak and exhausted condition.

Turkish prisoners are prepared for burial in the manner prescribed by their religion. They are buried in a Moslem cemetery. British soldiers from the garrison pay them the last honours, and the prisoners are represented at the cemetery.

~3. Maadi Camp.~

_(Visited on January 3, 1917.)_

The chief camp at Maadi is 9-1/3 miles south of Cairo, on the right bank of the Nile. All prisoners are taken to it after capture, and thence distributed among the other camps in Egypt.

_Strength._--Five thousand five hundred and fifty-six Turkish non-commissioned officers and men, including 1,200 men recently captured at El Arish in the Sinai peninsula.

No officers are interned in this camp. Three imaums (priests) were not cla.s.sed with the officers, as they had served as privates.

The prisoners include--besides Turks--Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, Jews from Palestine and Mesopotamia, and some Senoussi. Only a small number have been captives ever since the beginning of the war; a large proportion come from Gallipoli. We found among the prisoners a boy 8 years old, named Abd-el-Mohsen, who lives in camp with his father.

The camp is divided into 41 sections and 4 quarters. The last are divided off from one another by barbed wire fences.

_Accommodation._--The quarters of the Turkish prisoners in Maadi Camp include: (1) Old buildings originally erected as a school of music and subsequently used as a factory; (2) barracks built recently for prisoners of war.

The first consist chiefly of a huge hall 252 feet long and 49 feet wide, with many large openings in the walls. The roof, of match-boarding, is 33 feet above the floor. Standpipes are fixed all along the hall. There are, in addition, some out-buildings used by the management and as stores.

In the other camp sections new barracks, measuring as a rule 100 by 39 feet, were erected by a building firm. Walls and roof are of wood and thatch; the floor is hard-beaten earth. All camp quarters are well open to the air, so that proper ventilation presents no difficulties.

_Sleeping Accommodation._--Lengthwise of all the quarters run platforms of beaten earth, 6-1/2 feet wide, and 9 inches above the floor. On these are placed the woven rush mats which serve for beds. Each prisoner has 3 blankets. During the season when the temperature falls appreciably at night extra blankets are served out. All bedding is cleaned and disinfected at regular intervals. Shelves whereon the prisoners can keep their belongings are fixed between the rows of beds.

_Food._--The food of the prisoners of war is according to the scale already given. Kitchens are provided in each section and staffed by the prisoners themselves. We tasted the soup and meat stew, and found them of good quality and very appetising. The prisoners receive _baladi_ or native bread, which resembles their usual food and is supplied by Cairo bakeries. We questioned many of the men, who a.s.sured us that they were satisfied with the food. The only complaint noted by us was that of a man who thought that he got rice too often. A small canteen supplies black coffee, sweetened, at a farthing per cup. It is run as a private concern under the supervision of the authorities. Tobacco is distributed every Thursday on the scale mentioned previously.

_Clothing._--Soon after their arrival in camp the prisoners were taken to a large courtyard, in which they stripped off all their clothes and foot-gear. As a health precaution all this stuff was sc.r.a.pped and destroyed. After being disinfected, the men received a complete new outfit consisting of two pairs of drawers and two flannel shirts, a cholera belt, socks, a pair of trousers and a dark blue cloth tunic with linen lining and uniform b.u.t.tons, and a red fez. Leather slippers for privates and shoes for sergeants and corporals complete the outfit, the smartness of which leaves nothing to be desired. Although on the day of our visit the thermometer stood at about 53F. many of the men were also wearing their thick cloth overcoats. Every prisoner has fastened in his tunic a small metal plate bearing his registration number.

Non-commissioned officers are distinguished by a white linen armlet, crossed by a blue band for corporals, and by a red band for sergeants.

The sergeant-major wears a red armlet.

_Hygiene._--The drinking-water used in camp is drawn by two steam pumps from a well sunk to a great depth close to the Nile. The Nile water, after pa.s.sing through a kind of natural filter, is thus lifted into a reservoir above the camp, and is distributed in all directions by gravity. The bacteriological a.n.a.lysis made every week when the supply was first opened--now once a month--showed the water to be perfectly pure.

Water for washing purposes is plentiful. Hot and cold shower-baths are installed throughout the camp. The prisoners are obliged to use them once a week, but may, if they choose, have a bath four times a day. In summer especially the baths are never idle.

Prisoners get plenty of soap and wash their own linen on wooden tables arranged under water taps.

Two high-pressure steam disinfecting chambers serve the camp, and once a week all blankets are pa.s.sed through them. The camp contains no fleas, lice, or bugs.

The day latrines are 100 yards from the living quarters. They are of the Turkish kind, with movable tubs--1 tub for every 10 men. Every tub contains some cresol solution. The night-soil is removed daily by the Cairo road authorities and converted into manure. Some latrines close to the barracks are kept for night use and are locked up during the day.

_Medical Attention._--The medical service of Maadi Camp is in the hands of head-doctor Captain Scrimgeour, who in time of peace practised in Nazareth. He is a.s.sisted by an English doctor-adjutant, and 4 Arab doctors, natives of Syria. All these doctors speak Turkish and Arabic.

Nine English orderlies and 12 Turkish orderlies carry out the sick duties. A dentist comes to camp when required.

The infirmary included three well-appointed quarters built in masonry, and able to hold 40 patients.

The infirmary bedding accommodation consists of iron bedsteads with spring mattress and stuffed mattress. The blankets are warm and unlimited in number.

_Illness._--Every morning 300-400 prisoners come on sick parade. This number represents about 8 per cent. of the strength. Although these men often come to be treated for trifling ailments, such as slight constipation, or even a small boil, the doctors make it a rule not to prevent anyone going sick, as this course enables them to keep the closer watch upon the health of the camp.

On the occasion of our visit there were in the infirmary 7 men laid up: 1 with itch, 1 with diarrhoea, 1 with neuralgia, 1 with an abscess in the neck, 1 with articular rheumatism, and 1 with gastritis. A prisoner who had been trepanned by the doctors on account of damage done to his skull before his capture, was gradually recovering the power of motion and his normal sensibility.

Since the camp was opened there have been 35 cases of tertian ague, all from the Hedjaz, Mecca, Taf and Jeddah; but no case of aggravated malaria. Eleven cases of tuberculosis were sent into the Egyptian Red Cross hospitals and to that at Abba.s.siah. Six cases of trachoma are now undergoing treatment with applications of protargol. In summer there have been a few cases of ordinary diarrhoea. The camp has not suffered from dysentery, typhoid, typhus, nor any other epidemic disease.

All prisoners are inoculated against smallpox, typhoid and cholera.

_The Severely Wounded and those who have lost Limbs._--A special quarter of the camp contains 55 men who have lost limbs in the war. They are provided with the most perfect prothesis apparatus, jointed artificial limbs. Among them are 2 blind men. Sixty other wounded who have escaped more lightly suffer from stiffness of the joints, ankylosis and atrophy. They are well provided with sticks and crutches.

_Deaths._--Two aged prisoners have died in the camp, both from apoplexy.

They were interred with military honours in the Moslem burial-ground nearest to the camp.

_Exercise._--No limit is placed upon the time during which exercise may be taken in the open s.p.a.ce round the barracks.

_Work._--The prisoners have not to do work. Several attempts have been made to teach them boot-making, but their results were so unpromising that they were given up. Although there are many agriculturists among the prisoners, it would not do to use them for work on the land along with the natives, owing to the ease with which they could escape and the need for having many soldiers to guard them. However, for some weeks past the camp commandant has made trial of using some prisoners for market gardening on lands beside the Nile, just outside the camp.

_Discipline._--Under the head of discipline there are hardly any complaints to make, and punishment has rarely had to be inflicted. One case of escape was punished with three months' imprisonment without any alteration in diet. Only tobacco was cut off. An old offender was brought before a court-martial, and sentenced by it to six months'

imprisonment. The prison quarters are cells built entirely of cement, with two barred windows well above the ground to light the chamber, which is of ample size.

_Right to Make Complaints._--The camp commandant makes a general inspection every day. Every prisoner has the right to step forward and make his complaints. The commandant converses with the prisoners through the medium of several British officers who speak Arabic and Turkish.