Part 5 (2/2)

A second kitchen staff, installed in a separate room, prepares a special menu which the prisoners can have by paying for it. The commandant himself authorised the reservation of this kitchen to provide for such prisoners as possess ample means.

Here is the extra menu for January 5, 1917: _Lunch_: Italian dumplings; roast veal; salad and gherkins.

_Dinner_: Soup ”parmentier”; fish croquettes; braised beef with cabbage.

The meals are served at: Breakfast, half-past seven.

Lunch, one o'clock.

Dinner, half-past five.

Three canteens furnish all kinds of commodities to the prisoners--ham, sausages, preserves, cakes, chocolate, fruits, wine, beer, etc. The prices are exactly the same as in the English army canteens. A shop, run by a Bulgarian merchant, is permitted for the sale of tobacco, cigars and cigarettes. Besides this there is a Viennese who makes cigarettes in the camp itself. On Christmas Day the commandant made a generous distribution of cigarettes to all the interned men at his own expense.

They can also obtain at the bar tea, coffee and other drinks. In point of fact, we made sure that the camp administration has organised the commissariat in a manner that meets all needs.

_Clothing._--The men arrived in camp in their own clothes. When these began to wear out the administration furnished a new outfit, which consists of two flannel s.h.i.+rts, two knitted pairs of drawers, a vest and trousers of blue cloth, an overcoat, a police hat or a fez for the Turks, socks and slippers. The Mahometans receive Turkish slippers. All prisoners have a red scarf and two handkerchiefs. A well-found shop sells under-clothing at moderate prices, and articles of outfit, scent, post-cards and watches.

_Hygiene._--Drinking water, abundant and wholesome, is brought from the mains of the town of Alexandria. Besides the toilet lavatories, there are 4 bathrooms supplied with hot water and cold douches always available. The prisoners go in parties to bathe in the sea near the camp, under guard of British soldiers.

The prisoners do their own was.h.i.+ng, numerous wash-houses being provided for the purpose.

The latrines are partly on the English and partly on the Turkish system, 1 to every 10 men, cleanly kept. They are disinfected daily. The floor and the lower part of the chambers are treated with cresol; the upper part is whitewashed. The sewers discharge into the sea. The sweepings are burnt in a special stove.

_Medical Attention._--The sanitary condition of the camp is inspected at regular intervals by the Colonel, medical director of Hospital No. 21, Alexandria. Captain (Dr.) Dunne is resident in the camp; he pays a medical visit each day at 9 o'clock. Eight to ten prisoners out of the total in camp may present themselves for treatment, among them 1 or 2 Ottomans.

An interned Turkish civilian, Abrahim a.s.san, by calling an employee in a Constantinople factory, who speaks French and English perfectly, serves as orderly-interpreter.

An English Red Cross orderly a.s.sists the doctor. An Austrian dentist, formerly in business at Cairo, gives dental attention to the prisoners; he has a complete outfit of instruments.

The infirmary is well housed in a stone building. It contains a consulting-room, supplied with a full-flushed lavatory basin; a sick ward with 6 iron beds, mattress and coverings _ad libitum_; an isolation ward, and a dispensary.

Only slight cases are treated at the infirmary; serious cases are removed to Hospital No. 21 at Alexandria, situated within 10 minutes of the camp, a large modern hospital overlooking the sea.

On the day of our inspection there were in the infirmary 1 prisoner ill with bronchitis; at the hospital 1 tuberculous case and 1 with a wounded elbow.

The sanitary state of the camp has always been excellent. Apart from two relapse cases of dysentery in 1916, there has been neither trachoma, typhoid, typhus, malaria, nor any other infectious disease. This is explained by the fact that the interned civilians were not in bad health before their captivity, as was the case with soldiers who had sojourned in the desert, whom we saw in the other Egyptian camps.

There had been no deaths in the camp or at the hospital in Alexandria.

The orderly, Abrahim Ha.s.san, told us of his own accord that the sick receive the most a.s.siduous attention, and have nothing but praise for the resident physician.

_Religion and Amus.e.m.e.nts._--The prisoners offer their prayers daily. A mosque will be built for them in the new camp at Sidi Bishr.

Catholics are looked after by several Austrian priests, who used to manage Catholic schools in Upper Egypt.

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