Accommodation.—­The important group of buildings known as Saleh-el-din (Saladin) comprises a great number of rooms whose size and curious ornateness contrast strangely with their present use as a concentration camp for civilian prisoners.  From the windows of these apartments one looks across the panorama of Cairo, with its mosques, its minarets and the misty background of the desert.

The 40 inhabited rooms are allotted in three sections, corresponding to the social classification established for the interned women.

The rooms and corridors are paved throughout with marble, but the general distribution of mats and even beautiful carpets gives an impression of comfort.  The large dimensions of the chambers, as compared with the smallness of the number of occupants, give plenty of room for exercise and work.  Corridors and vestibules connect the different buildings.  They are lighted with paraffin lamps.

An extensive garden is always at the prisoners’ disposal.

Bedding.—­The japanned iron bedsteads are furnished with spring and stuffed mattresses, sheets, blankets, and pillows.  In their arrangement one notices the influence of personal taste.  Embroidered coverlets, hangings and upholstery give to some of the apartments an aspect of comfort and even of elegance.  The military administration supplies all the furniture and the regulation bedding, to which the inmates may add what they like at their own expense.

Dress.—­The English authorities supply women and children with all their linen and other clothing.

Food.—­Provisioning is a private enterprise, carried out under a contract.  The food is the same for all classes, and is unlimited in quantity.  The women are given as much as they desire of each dish.  No complaint was made concerning the food, which is wholesome and palatable.  We visited the kitchen and sampled the day’s menu.  Milk in large quantities is provided for the children.  The meals are served in three well-appointed dining-rooms.

The hours for meals are: 
  Breakfast, from 7.30 to 8.30. 
  Lunch, from 12.30 to 1.80. 
  Supper, from 5.30 to 6.80.

Hygiene.—­Water is supplied from the town mains.  Lavatories are installed in the corridors near the dormitories.  The inmates may have hot and cold baths every day.  As to laundry work, those of the first class can have it done by their own servants or pay the third-class women to do it.

The W.C.’s consist of movable tubs on the Turkish system, each containing a solution of cresol.  They are emptied daily by contract into the citadel cesspool, which communicates with the main sewer of Cairo.

Medical Care and Illnesses.—­The Head Physician, Captain Scrimgeour, comes to the camp every day; a Greek doctor also visits it four times a week at 9 o’clock in the morning.  These two doctors both speak Turkish and Arabic fluently.  Three trained nurses and an English midwife take charge of the infirmary.  As Moslems usually have very good teeth, the services of a dentist are not often needed.