Turkish Prisoners in Egypt Part 4

Among the officers under treatment we may mention: 1 wounded right knee, 1 scalp wound, 1 compound fracture of the thigh, 1 neck wound, 1 bullet wound in the chest, 1 bullet wound in the face, all recent cases coming from El Arish.

_Deaths_:

Number Number Cause of Death. of Deaths of Deaths in 1915. in 1916.

Surgical cases 30 17 Pleurisy 2 5 Dysentery 8 19 Typhoid 1 1 Pericarditis 1 2 Pneumonia 3 11 Pulmonary tuberculosis -- 26 Intestinal tuberculosis -- 21 Nephritis -- 5 Gangrene -- 1 Hepat.i.tis -- 1 Pernicious anaemia -- 1 --- --- Total 45 110 === ===

The dead were buried in the Musulman cemetery with military honours, such comrades as were well enough attending the ceremony.

~5. The Cairo Citadel Camp.~

_(Visited on January 3, 1917.)_

This camp occupies the curious Jewel-Palace, one of the monuments of the citadel, and contains only women and children coming from Hedjaz, who were captured near Mecca.

The dates of arrival are as follows:

Women and Children.

1st convoy of 123 September 11, 1916 2nd " " 66 October 16, 1916 3rd " " 26 " 28, 1916 4th " " 82 November 7, 1916 5th " " 132 " 29, 1916

_Numbers._--The total includes 229 women and 207 children (7 of whom were born in camp), and a further batch of 200 women is expected shortly.

_The Head Matron_ is Miss Lewis. It is she who has the management and full control of this camp, which, by its character and its diversity of nationalities, cla.s.ses and religions, demands great patience, tact and kindness--qualities possessed in the highest degree by Miss Lewis. She devotes herself entirely, and most capably, to this often very ungrateful task, and we welcome this chance of conveying to her the expression of our appreciation.

Those interned are divided into three cla.s.ses. The first cla.s.s consists of officers' wives and children; the second cla.s.s, of those of the non-commissioned officers; and the third cla.s.s, of soldiers' wives and servants. This cla.s.sification has been adopted in order that the dormitories shall be occupied by persons of as nearly as possible the same social standing.

_Accommodation._--The important group of buildings known as Saleh-el-din (Saladin) comprises a great number of rooms whose size and curious ornateness contrast strangely with their present use as a concentration camp for civilian prisoners. From the windows of these apartments one looks across the panorama of Cairo, with its mosques, its minarets and the misty background of the desert.

The 40 inhabited rooms are allotted in three sections, corresponding to the social cla.s.sification established for the interned women.

The rooms and corridors are paved throughout with marble, but the general distribution of mats and even beautiful carpets gives an impression of comfort. The large dimensions of the chambers, as compared with the smallness of the number of occupants, give plenty of room for exercise and work. Corridors and vestibules connect the different buildings. They are lighted with paraffin lamps.

An extensive garden is always at the prisoners' disposal.

_Bedding._--The j.a.panned iron bedsteads are furnished with spring and stuffed mattresses, sheets, blankets, and pillows. In their arrangement one notices the influence of personal taste. Embroidered coverlets, hangings and upholstery give to some of the apartments an aspect of comfort and even of elegance. The military administration supplies all the furniture and the regulation bedding, to which the inmates may add what they like at their own expense.

_Dress._--The English authorities supply women and children with all their linen and other clothing.

_Food._--Provisioning is a private enterprise, carried out under a contract. The food is the same for all cla.s.ses, and is unlimited in quant.i.ty. The women are given as much as they desire of each dish. No complaint was made concerning the food, which is wholesome and palatable. We visited the kitchen and sampled the day's menu. Milk in large quant.i.ties is provided for the children. The meals are served in three well-appointed dining-rooms.

The hours for meals are: Breakfast, from 7.30 to 8.30.

Lunch, from 12.30 to 1.80.

Supper, from 5.30 to 6.80.

_Hygiene._--Water is supplied from the town mains. Lavatories are installed in the corridors near the dormitories. The inmates may have hot and cold baths every day. As to laundry work, those of the first cla.s.s can have it done by their own servants or pay the third-cla.s.s women to do it.

The W.C.'s consist of movable tubs on the Turkish system, each containing a solution of cresol. They are emptied daily by contract into the citadel cesspool, which communicates with the main sewer of Cairo.

_Medical Care and Illnesses._--The Head Physician, Captain Scrimgeour, comes to the camp every day; a Greek doctor also visits it four times a week at 9 o'clock in the morning. These two doctors both speak Turkish and Arabic fluently. Three trained nurses and an English midwife take charge of the infirmary. As Moslems usually have very good teeth, the services of a dentist are not often needed.

The infirmary is very commodious. It consists of a consulting-room, with a couch for examinations; a surgery, and a sick ward.

In the infirmary register the name, the disease, the treatment and the course of the illness are all duly noted.

When the internment camp was opened a hundred prisoners applied for treatment daily; many had suffered great privations previous to their capture. At the present time only 5 or 10 patients take advantage of the doctor's visit; and these are mild cases, chiefly bronchitis, constipation, diarrhoea, and eye affections among women and children, and some cases of heart affections and chronic bronchitis among the old people.

There is neither malaria, dysentery nor typhus in the camp, and no epidemic malady. An early case of tuberculosis, without Koch's bacillus in the sputa, was cured.

On the day of our visit to the infirmary we found 5 patients in bed or crouched in the oriental manner upon their bedsteads; 1 suffering from senile paralysis, 2 from bronchitis, 1 from inflammation of the ears, and 1 from general debility.

_Maternity._--Confinements not being uncommon, it was necessary to establish a maternity ward. There were 5 births during the last three months of 1915. Two more occurred upon the day we inspected the camp, mothers and infants doing well.

_Deaths._--Up to that time there had only been one death at the Citadel Camp, that of a baby prematurely born, which died from debility at the age of 18 days.

_Education._--A school has been started in the camp, and all boys as well as girls up to 12 years old are obliged to attend it. A mistress teaches them Turkish and Arabic, and also gives them half an hour's instruction in English daily.

_Religious Services._--The imaum came once to hold a Mahometan service, but the interned women expressed no desire that he should repeat his visit. However, an old woman, chosen from among them, reads the Koran aloud upon feast days.

_Intellectual Diversions._--The women seem to have no needs or desires on this score. They pa.s.s their days in talking and smoking.

The camp has been presented with a gramophone.

_Work._--This is absolutely voluntary. The head nurse has organised a little dressmaking cla.s.s, the wife of a former president, Sir B.

McMahon, having given her 10 with which to buy the necessary materials.

The results will be divided equally among those who did the work, but as most of the women have plenty of money they are not energetic over it.

_Money._--Many of those interned had money on them, sometimes a large amount, when captured; the whole of which has been left in their hands.

They often send money through the agency of British officers to their husbands who are prisoners in Maadi Camp, or at Sidi Bishr, near Alexandria. Others, on the contrary, receive allowances from their husbands. Some money orders have also come through the International Red Cross Committee.

_Correspondence._--Each person interned has the chance of writing once a week; those who do not know how to write get help from their companions.

An interpreter is attached to the camp. Many letters arrive through the medium of the International Red Cross Committee, but the exchange of correspondence is not generally very active.