CESSPOOL OF SAVAGERY Designed by Michelle Murphy In this DBQ, students will explore the attitudes of the Anzacs towards the local population of Egypt where they trained prior to the landing at Gallipoli. Specifically, they will think about how Anzacs perceived the Egyptians and what informed their view. Source

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BERT SMYTHE, ANZAC Q: What was Bert’s opinion of Egyptian intelligence? 3 December 1914 Dear girls. [the McPhee girls: Clytie, Doris & Jeane] We arrived at Port Said about 1PM. The town is quite pretty tho the streets are very narrow. We were anchored quite close to the street, not 25 years from it. The men amused themselves by throwing coins to the coal lumpers, for the fun of seeing about a dozen pulling each other about. Of course while they were fighting for the coins they were

no loading the coal, & their overseer would rush at them with a thick rope & belt them like a fury. Once a coin feel near his feet & he grabbed it himself. We tried to get one of them to accidentally push the old villain into the water for 2/- but they were not game. During the afternoon several shots were fired into the water near natives who came too close in boats. We got a mail at Aden. As I think I told you before & of course your interesting letter was among it. My word the natives are horribly filthy & degraded. I have always had a feeling of compassion towards the colored races, 2

but it has now turned to disgust. You have to see them to fully realize the immense superiority of the whites. They fairly cringe & fawn in front of a white man. Our eyes made sore by seeing so many niggers, were healed up a little later by having the pleasure of seeing some white men & women. The men on board cheered the girls a treat as they walked down the street. A French warship at anchor in the harbour gave us three ringing English cheers as we passed her when coming in & we returned the compliment with interest. Two N.Z. lads who broke away from their boat, & on their return found it gone, were taken by our guard & placed under open arrest. A lot of men hustled some natives who were on board hawking, & during the crush robbed them of nearly ₤60 worth of silk etc. The missing stuff was found in one of F coys kit bags. We left Port Said about 8pm same day. Q: What role did race play in Bert’s attitude towards the Egyptians? 13 December 1914 Dear Mum & Dad & Brothers & Sisters, When we woke up at 5.15 next morning, found ourselves in the canal with land in sight on each side about 20 to 30 yds distant. We were fired on during the night by small parties but no damage was done. All the boat sentries were issued with 45 rounds of ball ammunition. Just after I got up saw a shot fired

towards the boat in front from a point about 300 yds off. Just saw the flash & heard the report. It couldn’t have done any harm, as it was not answered. At intervals along the canal Indian troops are stationed. Some of them are in pretty strong positions too, further strengthened by barbed wire entanglements. About 9.30a a troop train going the opp direction passed us, the troops hanging out of the windows cheering like mad. We replied in the same way. Arrd at Pt Said about 1pm & anchored right along the street. The streets are a bit on the narrow side, but seem pretty clean. We amused ourselves throwing coins to the natives swimming in the water, to see them drive for them. In nearly every case they got them too. My part of the fun was looking on _ _ _. The real fun didn’t start tho, until they began to load coal with the niggers. The men threw coins to the niggers & of course they dropped coal & everything to pick up the monish##, and the overseer would belt into them like made with a stout piece of rope. We tried to get the nigs to throw him into the water accidentally for 2/- but they were not having any. A little after tea got some mail. A very NICE one from dear little Iderideroo [Ida?], Percy, Clytie & Mrs Richards. Thanks very much for them they cheered us up a lot. The natives are terribly filthy & disgusting. You have to see the brats in their own land to realize how very much superior the whites are to the blacks. There were very few white people in streets. Two N.Z. boys who took French leave & on their return found that their boat had sailed, were taken in charge by us & placed under open arrest. Some hawkers who came on board, were hustled, & robbed of 7yd of silk etc. It was found in one of F coys kit bag. At 8.40p we weighed anchor & left about 9p about 60 men of the 4th were taken to the hospital suffering from severe internal pains. Only a little while before nearly all 3

of F coy were down with the same trouble. I was not one of them. There was the dickens to pay over it too. The cooks were roused up at 12 o’clock at night & an inquiry held. Q: What was Bert’s opinion of Egyptian morality? 18 December 1914 Dear Homefolks, We get leave from 4PM to 11PM every six days. I drew my first leave last Tuesday & visited Cairo with a young chap who'd been in before. We had a splendid tea for 2/- each. It was worth it. I

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never tasted such a lovely steak. Its just as well as I started off with something nice, before we had a look round as I saw very little of nice things afterwards. As soon as we got off the main street. Found out that fully 90% of the houses carried on a business that is very heavily punished in Sydney. Here it is carried on quite openly & not only that, but is licensed. I was terribly disgusted & if it was not for the fact that I know several good women in Aust, my faith & respect for women would have been shattered. Every house we passed, they would call out to us or else rush over to us & try to drag us over. Of course most them were ugly but others were decidedly good looking...You’d really

have to see things here to understand how horribly bad they are & how very low a woman can go. I don’t think that a single respectable woman is outside after dark & dear knows there are enough women about—more than men & you can imagine how many men are about, with 50000 troops camped here. Q: What was Bert’s opinion of hygiene and sanitation practices?

reach market. The canals that are used in the irrigation schemes are the general wash tubs & cess pools of all natives living in their vicinity. Natives have been seen actually washing the dust of the luscious strawberry by rolling them in their mouths. And to think that I was tempted to buy strawberries & cream once but luckily did not have the wherewithal to do so. There’s no doubt about it. Egypt’s a fine place to live in.

28 March 1915 Dear Mum & Dad & Brothers & Sisters, I’ve had a slight dose of Nile fever, but it was not serious enough to send me to the Dr or to cause me to miss any parades, tho it was very uncomfortable & irritating when I perspired. This inoculation against fever must be very effective when you consider that fevers are very fatal to visitors to Egypt, but are unknown in any serious form among the military. This is a fine country to live in. Its very unsafe to eat any fruit raw unless it is well peeled. All raw vegetables are taboo, also salads milk & ice cream. Unless you personally boil milk its dangerous & for that reason we are advised to only drink coffee in town, as it is always made from boiled milk. The only milk we are advised to is that tinned variety. We are not allowed to go about barefoot in the sand or to paddle in the Nile or any of its channels owing to a small insect which gets under the skin & then works right throu the body & renders the victim dangerously ill. I’m very fond of lettuces, but since my arrival here I’ve carefully refrained from indulging myself owing to the fact that the natives have a dainty habit of washing their wares in any filthy pool that happens to be handy just before they 5

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Q: What was Percy’s attitude towards the Egyptians? 6 August 1915

Percy Smythe, Anzac When we got to the port, a lot of boats came alongside. They were occupied by niggers, who came to sell tobacco, cigarettes, tinned fruit, etc. They invariably demanded an exorbitant price at first, but would readily come down if they could get no sale. They would often ask 4/- or 5/- for an article, and eventually sell it for 1/-. They would throw a line up to the purchaser, who would haul up a basket, put the money therein, and then lower it, whereupon the article to be purchased would be placed in the basket by one of the nigs and hauled up by the purchaser. The nigs were awfully amusing, and I enjoyed a good laugh at them. They were such comical beggars, with their black faces and short curly hair, white teeth, and skinny limbs. They were dressed in dirty loincloths, and a few wore turbans. One or two were completely bald. It was dead tricky to see their black heads bobbing about just over the water, and when they smiled—such a display of shining white teeth in their black setting, it would tickle the fancy of a born grouch. Source

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Q: Does Percy’s account corroborate that of his brother, Bert’s? 12 August 1915 Up early, had a bath and got things ready for disembarkation. While we were having breakfast the ship was taken to a wharf inside the canal. We fell in with all our belongings at 8a.m. A couple of Arabs were diving for money in the water down below. They managed to get nearly every coin that was thrown in. On the wharf were a lot ragged and disreputable looking men, women and children, and a few Port Police. The children would hold out their hands for money, and each time a coin was thrown, there would be a general scramble. Then the police would come along and chase them away, hitting them with their canes. It was a very amusing scene.

promenade through its seamier quarters, under the very capable guidance of an Australian private whom I had known in London when we were both working at architecture. In an hour I had seen enough to last me ‘for the duration.’ When an Eastern city makes up its mind to provide a parade of immorality, it is usually successful, and for sheer squalid beastliness there are streets in Cairo, in those days often crowded with khaki, that it would be hard to beat. One does not need to be an architect to appreciate the real charms of the Oriental Cairo, and that charm is not to be found in the seedy slums where Europeans take their pleasures at their own risk.

Prostitution in Egypt, Control of Immorality

Martin S. Briggs, English Architect

Q: What similarities are visible between the words of the YMCA, Thomas, and Bert?

Q: What does Brigg’s think of the local population? Does his account support that of Bert and Percy?

The YMCA reported that:

I remember that my first evening in the city was partly devoted to a rapid

wagh el Birka and Clot Bey, and the almost innumerable bye-lands contiguous to them where are congregated thousands of Native and European prostitutes of the lowest description, many of whom are afflicted with disease in its worst form. Most of them are living in tenement houses or in low hovels of the most unsanitary description; the lanes giving access to them are ill-paved, badly lighted and leaking with filth and disease germs.

The hot bed of these worst forms of syphilitic disease is an a District in Cairo known as the Wassa, situated in the very heart of the city, in the two main streets, 7

Thomas Bann, Anzac Q: What are Bann’s thoughts on the morality of the Egyptians? Does it support the other sources?

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Primary Sources

Crooks, Thomas Ray, Thomas Ray Crook War Diary, From the State Library of New South Wales, 1915 – 1918. Smythe Bert, Letters from Bert. Diary. From Smythe Family, Smythe Family Website, 1913 - 1917, http://www.smythe.id.au/ letters/ (accessed 18 June 2014). Smythe, Percy, The World War I Diary of Percy Smythe, 1915. Diary. From Smythe Family, Smythe Family Website, 1915 1918, http://www.smythe.id.au/diary/index.htm (accessed 7 June 2014). "Thomas Bann's Egyptian Letter." NSW Government State Records. Accessed September 1, 2014. http:// www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/research-topics/warand-australia/anzacs/images-anzac/ thomasbann_letter2_71770_sc2928.jpg/view. Commonwealth of Australia Governor-General’s Office, Prostitution in Egypt. Control of Immorality, National Archives of Australia, 20 March 1916, Discovering Anzacs, http:// discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/23727/8.

About the Author Michelle Murphy link

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FROM - EXPLORING HISTORY: VOL II 


Complete iBook available free at iTunes

EXPLORING HISTORY: VOL II This eBook is a collaborative project of Peter Pappas 
 and his Fall 2014 Social Studies Methods Class 
 School of Education ~ University of Portland, Portland Ore.

Chapters in chronological order

1. The American Revolution by Scott Deal

Graduate and undergraduate level pre-service teachers were assigned the task of developing an engaging research question, researching supportive documents and curating them into a DBQ suitable for middle or high school students. For more on this class, visit the course blog EdMethods 
 For more on the assignment and work flow tap here.

2. The Pig War by Andy Saxton 3. Cesspool of Savagery by Michelle Murphy 4. Chemical War by Erik Nelson 5. Americans’ Perceptions of Immigration 
 in the 1920s by Ceci Brunning and Jenna Bunnell 6. The New Deal and the Art of Public Persuasion 
 by Kari VanKommer 7. Combat Soldiers in Context by Kristi Anne McKenzie




8. The Marshall Plan: Altruism or Pragmatism? 
 by Sam Kimerling

Engaging questions and historic documents empower students to be the historian in the classroom. 


9. Little Rock Nine: Evaluating Historical Sources 
 by Christy Thomas 10. First Ladies as a Political Tool by Emily Strocher

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Peter Pappas, editor 
 School of Education ~ University of Portland His popular blog, Copy/Paste features downloads of his instructional resources, projects and publications. Follow him at Twitter @edteck. His other multi-touch eBooks are available at here. For an example of one of his eBook design training workshops tap here.

CC BY-NC 3.0 Peter Pappas and Michelle Murphy, 2014 The authors take copyright infringement seriously. If any copyright holder has been inadvertently or unintentionally overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to remove the said material from this book at the very first opportunity.

Cover image: Replica of old French globe
 Date:1 January 1, 2013
 Petar Milošević Source

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