Note 8 — Chapter IV · THE SUEZ CANAL AND SINAI (January, 1916—March, 1917)

One man, indeed, tried to cultivate friendship with a horned viper. He had actually tied a string to its tail—how he managed this goodness only knows!—and was showing it round when it rose in its wrath and bit him. The fact that he was near the M.O.’s tent saved him, but he was left with a “dud” finger for life. All sorts of queer pets, lizards, tortoises, praying-mantis, etc., were kept by the men when their units were stationary, and one of these—a large lizard—proved to be of a rare species, and found an honourable refuge in the Cairo Zoo. Desert mice and rats of various kinds abounded, and were often tame and amenable, but of larger animals only a few gazelles and, once, an Egyptian wild-cat, were seen. Nearly every cookhouse acquired a pet goat, the diminutive black one of the 10th Manchesters being the most admired of those. The 6th L.F. goat “joined up” at Imbros and saw service in Gallipoli as well as in Sinai.