Pièce 105 - Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Sir George Trevelyan

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S.S. City of Birmingham at Suez Canal. - They are going through the Great Bitter Lake, and will be at Suez this afternoon; it is hot, but 'not unpleasant in the shade'. They reached Port Said yesterday afternoon and left about ten at night. They are now about to wait until the tide changes before continuing. The desert view is 'fine'; they have seen some dromedaries carrying sand from the canal banks; 'the natives look very fine' and sometimes work 'quite naked'. Though everyone 'abuses Port Said', he found it 'fascinating'. [Goldsworthy Lowes] Dickinson joined them there. Hears from Bessie that there was no report of their ship passing Gibraltar; the report had not reached Naples either. Notes at 2 pm that they are not tied up due to being 'stuck on the sand', as they were first told, but to allow other boats to pass; supposes they will start again soon. Will not write again till Bombay. Their plans are still vague, but they will probably go north to Lahore before returning later to Rajputana. The news from Turkey sounds bad [beginning of the First Balkan War]; if there is war, hopes it will 'end in the Turks leaving Europe for good and all'; will be interesting to get newspapers at Bombay. Glad to hear that everyone is well at Walllington; Bessie sounds cheerful, hopes she did not get anxious about not hearing the ship was past Gibraltar. Notes in a postscript at 2.15 pm that they are just about to start again.