Getting the troops off the ship was a matter of comparative ease, but the landing of sick, issue of rations, handing over of ship's stores, and the unloading of horses, wagons, and over 1,250,000 rounds of ammunition, entailed much organisation and a great deal of hard labour. Notwithstanding this, the O.C. Troops was able to leave the ship before 5 p.m., having left behind a small party to finally adjust matters with the ship and disembarkation authorities. This rear party rejoined the unit three days later. As the Battalion commenced to disembark the transport "Geelong" came to anchor off the town. CHAPTER III. FIRST STAY IN EGYPT. Four trains, running at intervals of two hours, were used to convey the troops from the ship's side to the neighbourhood of Cairo. For part of the journey the railway ran parallel with and in sight of the Canal. Near Ismailia it turned west and led across the northern part of the Arabian Desert (once the Land of Goshen) to Zagazig, where it took another turn, to the south-west, and entered the capital. Though almost entirely desert, the country was not without interest to the new arrivals. Sand was not unknown in Western Australia, but had never been seen over such tremendous tracts and giving off such colours which, probably due to atmospheric influences, had very distinctive beauty. Here and there the oases, and the irrigation areas, were marked by palm trees or by crops of a vivid green hue. There was also seen much that at once directed attention to the fact that the land was one famed in biblical history. The costumes of the natives; the flat-roofed mud-coloured dwellings; the old fashioned wells, the hooded and veiled women bearing pitchers on their heads, the humble donkey, and the more dignified camel, instantly carried minds back to the pictures that were popular in childhood's days. By midnight the last of the troops, detrained at a military siding near by, had reached the camp and taken shelter for the time being in a number of open-sided wooden huts.