大象传媒

Part 2.
American Mission. A young Egyptian about twelve ran after me in street & said he did not want backshish, but liked talking English. I stopped & chatted to him. He attended the American Mission school & spoke good English. The school educated several boys & girls. His parents used to pay 2 or 3 E L per year (Egyptian Lira or 拢? - Kevin Parry.) , but since his father died they take him for nothing. He told me that an officer who was in Luxor sometime back taught a bit of French- when I tested him he readily said such things as 鈥渃omment- allez vous鈥� & 鈥減arley Francaise鈥� etc. a bright lad & a pity he can鈥檛 get to an Egyptian 鈥渟econdary鈥� school, but he says he has no cash- would ask for 拢4 per annum. He took me to see a Mosque, Coptic Church (he is a Coptic Christian) & the Mission School. Gave me his address & I shall write in due course. The Coptic Church is a fine size & clean- saw the patriarch in street in black gown! The altar behind closed doors is quite messy- candles & some figures on a stand. The mission school was interesting. The caretaker was very polite & showed me various classrooms with desks as in England etc. Quite different looking place. Then the headmaster, an Egyptian, came in & he did not 鈥渇ollow me鈥� very well. I understand that Christianity is not thrust upon them & that Mohammedan children also belong to the school. The boy told me they were taught to be polite & not run after and bother people for backshish as all the wogs do- & that it is very wrong to **** He certainly was a good pupil regarding politeness. Very interesting meeting. Once in Hostel in Alex. Saw one of the鈥� faithful鈥� on knees in corridor bowing & praying. At 鈥渃all to prayer鈥� time. Once or twice saw this happen in street in native village, but it is rare. When at Darma on day saw service in Mosque- nearly full.
H.G Wells History of World. 鈥� Sixth century B.C Buddha, Confucius & Lao Tse & Isaiah lived during this remarkable century.
First true men- 30,000 yrs ago or more. In Spain & France, especially Spain, bones, weapons, scratchings on bone & rocks & paintings in caves have been found. 15-12,000 B.C somewhere in N.Africa of Western Asia or Med. Valley- now submerged under Med. Sea, were beginning cultivation & were domesticating animals. They have discovered possibility of basket work & roughly woven textiles of plant fibre. It now seems possible that earth has had a separate existence as a flying planet, spinning round the sun for a period longer than 2,000,000,000 years.
King Asoka of India. Most famous of Peacock Kings 3rd & 4th centuries B.C. He & his grandfather Chandragupta are probably best kings that ever lived anywhere. Chandragupta鈥檚 counsellor & friend Kamtilya had grand ideas- re morals, wisdom, pity etc. King Asoka actually turned his 鈥渁rms into ploughshares鈥� & ruled his empire with kindness. Greeks, Syrians etc. travelled to India to see & study his methods. His edict carved on stone still stand in many parts of India. He believed & practiced tolerance to all sects of religion & fostered philosophy & learning & seeking after truth. He held his Court at Petra. One of his sayings 鈥渂etter to carry a beggars bowl than quaff human blood鈥�. Novel I read of above 鈥淲hen Peacocks Called鈥� by Hilda Seligman.

Cyrene & Environs
Extract from Lecture given by Padre at Apollonia Mar. 鈥�43.
Greek Prince with stammer 鈥� Oracle at Delphi advised him to found a colony in N.Africa. Name of Prince was Apollo- son of Sun God Zeus. He landed at Apollonia, which was used as port for Cyrene. Kyra 鈥� a young beautiful Libi 鈥� Apollo seduced Kyra. Name of Cyrene eventually came from this name. Apollo founded the Pentepolis 鈥� Berenice, Apollonia, Tolemaside, Bara & Cyrene. In those days 鈥� more earth 鈥� fertile & rich country. In one year 2900 tons of grain in one year- found on tablets. Syphlium plant 鈥� probably used for tea. Not found today. All Greek buildings have flat roofs 鈥� no arches 鈥� arches invented by Babylonians 鈥� no stone 鈥� used bricks & so had to invent arches for support.

Visit to Cyrene Ruins 6/4/41 saw very good example of Roman central heating system. In one corner of a room, quite large proportion of original marble flooring left supported by columns of bricks leaving a space of about 5ft underneath floor. Somewhere had a furnace of some kind was burnt. At end of room can be plainly seen a space in between the walls of adjoining rooms containing chimneys or shafts through which smoke escaped.
Arabs & Jews.
Notes of conversation with R.E. Sergeant 2/5/43 who was in charge of permanent site buildings for C.O.L. at Apollonia. He was in charge of R.E Company from Palestine 鈥� all Jews 鈥� Polish & German. He had Senussi Arabs from Apollonia helping him. The Sennusi disliked working with the Jews, although no Jews in Libya. The Sergeant hopes he is not in Palestine when war ends, because he expects trouble 鈥� Arabs just waiting for war to end. He was in Palestine & Transjordan for long time & says all soldiers come away from Palestine pro-Arab. In Transjordan last year they were working on underground defences in (unreadable) when Jerry broke through the Caucasus. Millions were poured into this work & you could get anything you wished for the job under First P** M.E Order. Jewish lorries & drivers from Palestine helped & charged exorbitant price. They had to have special pass to enter country & it was necessary to put an armed escort on each lorry. Regarding Senussi helping at Apollonia he said they were O.K. if you reckon on 3 men for a 2 European man job. They are friendly & easy to get on with. The Arab complaint he said in all M.E countries is 鈥� 鈥淲hy not leave us alone, we are contented, we do not want your 鈥榠mproved civilisation鈥� What has it done for you 鈥� 2 world wars鈥�. It is a difficult and strong argument to counter.
Apollonia End of April 鈥� cutting ripened grain in the plain at the bottom of the hills 鈥� the coastal plain is only 3-4 miles in depth; the corn etc. is sown by Libi only in the open patches here & there. All uneven in size & shape. Wherever there are stony pieces of ground or bushes, no attempt whatsoever has been made to clear the ground for sowing. The result is, especially from the hilltops, a patchwork effect of different colours- yellow & gold of the grain & dark green of the bushes. In the sun this patchwork colour effect is quite beautiful. The natives were cutting corn with hand scythe.
Arabic No vowels. These are represented by marks or signs above the consonants. However in printed Arabic papers, these signs are omitted & so in reading one guesses & uses imagination. Most of Egyptians have suggested (and it is being officially considered) a simplified form of Arabic, including the introduction of vowels, to help overcome Felahen illiteracy.
Apollonia Once or twice have seen 鈥榳ealthy鈥� Libi in native dress. Probably land owners. For example saw today a clean wealthy Libi in native dress on fine horse & behind on lead (his wife & daughter) also in native dress on back of well fed camel. Very picturesque, this native costume, when clean & worn by clean 鈥渨ell to do鈥� people. Afraid you cannot honestly say same about dirty natives.
Trip from Apollonia to Tripoli Go through Barce pass & Berse 鈥� latter usual town like Derna. After going through pass onto plain, which is very wide & cultivated 鈥� largest area under cultivation in whole of Libya. Then down Tocra pass or escarpment onto sea plain level & then **** out of greenbelt area & desert to Benghazi. Only saw latter in the distance. Just before Misuata (looked pleasant town with shrubs & tree lined streets by sea) a few ** settlement houses & cultivation 鈥� trees etc., but desert in between. It is only by constant watering that these really small areas are arable. Vines in long rows & olive trees in parts. In all this part, Misuata to Tripoli, plenty of wells 鈥� leather water bags & ox led by boy or man down incline 鈥� continually squeaking. It is only by continually watering that this 鈥榙esert鈥� is arable & so only small patch is cultivated, many by Libi. One of two native villages had notices up 鈥� do not stop 鈥� Typhus. The native quarter of Tripoli was out of bounds for same reason. After Misuata there were occasionally patches of palms either side of the road & wog village. Wells & cultivation in between palms & then desert again. In some spots where road ran near the sea the scene was quite beautiful. Palms & lovely deep blue Mediterranean beyond. Plenty of cactus with yellow flowers in bloom, which give way to kind of crab apple. They are used (cactus) for hedges separating land. Many bridges blown down by retreating Axis & a bumpy road is made round this. The road was originally very good & still is in many parts beyond Misuata. However in many places, lots of potholes 鈥� lifted mines & bombing & machine gun firing making these I suppose. After H**** country is hilly & for some way with coarse grass not unlike Truro or Yorkshire Moors.
Tripoli Spent 2 hours in town on Sunday 6/6/43. Plenty of shipping in biggish harbour, some of it pretty badly damaged. One side of the harbour is badly bombed & bomb damage in Tripoli is considerable but not extensive. The 鈥渕arine dhow鈥� round harbour is pleasant & well set out with flowering shrubs & palms. In town there are a number of biggish white buildings, well built modern Cathedral & one or two wide streets, but it is a disappointing place 鈥� showy & small. Shops small & under arcade for coolness. Have not seen any European shops. The Iti鈥檚 have been living in country because of raids & about 5 o鈥檆lock you see a number cycling out & service lorries give men & girls lifts, although this has been stopped because of Typhus. No buses or transport except few horse open cabs in town.
Tripoli After several more visits revised my impressions somewhat. On two occasions (on visit to Dental Centre) saw town in early mornings when comparatively few people about. One certainly wants to see towns & cities either at night, latish in moonlight or very early morning before they get crowded. In my opinion at any other time they are ugly. In the early morning parts of Tripoli are quite beautiful. The harbour front & gardens of palms & flowering trees, some flowering tree lined streets, with white minaret towers beyond & tall palms in old native town. One day also found few more shops open, some larger ones, but very little to sell worth buying. One of theatres used 鈥溾�檓ira***鈥� for cinema was the previous Opera House. No doubt for the Gov. Officials. Tripoli was pleasant enough place to live in pre-war.

Date Plams 9/7/43. Saw native climb up very high palm tree tonight. Most interesting. He fixed rope round the trunk & his waist & then leaning back on the rope, just walked up, adjusting the rope round the trunk every few paces. Of course this could not be done on a tree with smooth bark. The notches of the palm held the rope from slipping. Wells in Tripoli area, hundreds of them. Natives with ox, drawing water in cool of evening & start again 11pm-12pm & draw all through night.

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