TCD MS 11290/2 folio 1 verso
[?1916] I expect to stay a couple of days in Cairo on my way which I need very badly as most of my stuff is either lost or worn out now but I won’t have time for pyramiding or anything of that kind.
I had a letter from you asking me for seeds from the Oasis well there arent any flowers to speak of there as nothing grows except where irrigated by the very limited supplies of water available.
I have got one seed luckily enough of a plant something like a burnet rose but the seed was not like a rose seed more like the shape of a pig without head or legs and little seeds inside like apple seeds.
I am putting it in this envelope but you’ll hardly get it to grow as it likes a temperature of about 150° in Summer & frost at times in winter also sandy clay with no water except perhaps once a year.
This paper is interesting it was intended for printing an addition of the Koran with the initials of the Khedive as a watermark on each page. War broke out and the Khedive ran away to Constantinople. You will see his initials on the paper if you hold it up to the light.
Eventually the YMCA got it cheap as the government didnt like to use it with the old scoundrels initials on it. Thank Mary very much for her letter which I got too.
I will write when I get to my new place as I will have lots of news after travelling through Cairo.
Best love to all
Henry