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Letter from Gertrude Bell to her father, Sir Hugh Bell

Summary
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Reference code
GB/1/1/2/1/7/9
Recipient
Bell, Sir Thomas Hugh Lowthian
Creator
Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian
Creation Date
Extent and medium
1 letter, paper
Language
English
Location

Sat. Dec 6th. Dearest Father. We arrive at Aden [('Adan)] tomorrow late in the afternoon and I shall be able to post this to you there. We wrote last from Suez - I wonder when you will get those letters. Yesterday was warm and today is quite hot - a glassy sea and no land in sight. We had a beautiful run down the Gulf of Suez, with bare bare hills on either side. At sunset, Mr Schuster and I went onto the 2nd class upper deck and watched the sea turning a pale violet and the sky a dark reddish purple and the thin crescent of the moon shining more and more silver above it all. Every night since Port Said the sunsets have been an hour's pleasure of changing colour. Otherwise we have done little but made the better acquaintance of our fellow passengers. Mrs Gascoyne, I am amused to find, is a daughter of Sir Douglas Galton's and knows Grandpapa. She also knows the Poynters and Ambrose did a monument for her mother's grave. She had heard from him about Mount Grace and she was glad to hear (from me) that he was prospering. I see a good deal of Mrs Dundas who is a dear little woman with the most delicious child in the world. I wonder what the story of that marriage is! She was a widow, I shd think a little older than he, and certainly not of his caste though she is a charming little person. She doesn't, but I feel she almost might, call napkins serviettes. Then there is Mrs Walter Lawrence the wife of the Viceroy's secretary - we have letters to him - a very sweet nice woman. She introduced me to Mrs Hugh Barnes - her husband has just been made governor of Burmah [Burma (Myanmar)] and we have letters to him, but unfortunately they are going on leave directly after the Durbar so we shall not see them there. Mrs Barnes is a sister of the Vanbrughs, she married her cousin. She is most attractive. We have also made a great alliance with Mrs Moncrieff and her sister Miss Muir. They are delightful. We have an empty seat by us so we have invented to ask people to dinner. Last night Mrs Moncrieff dined with us; Mr Schuster and Miss Muir have accepted our kind invitations. It's rather amusing to have a little change, though we do get on admirably with the Russells. We all change about with each other - to the great confusion of the stewards who gaze round blankly and say "This is the serviette you used this morning Lady Russell." They really have been dears, the Rs I mean, they have made a great difference to the pleasure of the voyage. Gilbert is capital company, always cheerful, often very funny. He and Diana play Bridge with us every evening; the two Ms (Moncrieff and Muir) cut in occasionally which is rather a blessing as it's pretty hot in the saloon and one is glad to go out for a bit and see the moon setting. There's a cheerful old party called Miss Thornwill whom I like. I play Patiences with her sometimes, but she is very much with all the Pembroke-Willie James lot. I also see something of the Byngs; she is a nice little thing, but he is very shy and not very exciting. You would love this boat - there so many charming ladies who would adore you. It's a very exceptional boat load in the matter of nice pretty people. I like particularly Hugo's cabin companion. He's a young man called Robertson who is busy irrigating and colonizing Scinde [Sindh[?]]. He comes into a country as bare as a board and leaves it a waving sea of corn. He knows all about the ruins and things in Scinde and discusses Justice in the abstract with Hugo and me - which is rather a refreshing change from time to time, for we mostly talk nonsense. The Leiters [see also Lighter] have been remarkably quiet. The only thing of interest that Mrs L. seems to have said was that she regretted (to Mrs Moncrieff) that disease did disseminate the East so terribly. Miss Leiter appeared last night after dinner in a white openwork Quangle Wangle hat. It was a Hat! an ell wide and absolutely no use at all for anything but Star stroke, for it was all made up of holes. Susan has been an ideal cabin companion; she is so amiable and I'm very fond of her. I expect the longest part of the journey will be the 4 days from Aden [('Adan)] to Bombay. We expect to get in on Friday morning. However it will be cooler than it is here. The cabins were hot last night and women mayn't sleep on deck on this silly ship. It's really very absurd that you mayn't just stroll up and lie down on your long chair for a few hours. We are all in cottons and muslins by day, are you wearing you muslin gowns much?

Sunday. [7 December 1902] We had an amusing morning going through Bab el Mandeb [Bab al Mandab] - such a bare rocky coast, line behind line of barren hill. It is less hot, yesterday was our hottest day, but it was not very bad, 86° in the shade on deck. I have made acquaintance with Lord and Lady Dartrey - nice people they seem. Mrs Walter Lawrence is extraordinarily friendly. She is going to tell her husband to see that we are looked after in every way and have all invitations. That's rather useful isn't it! I fear we shall not get to Aden [('Adan)] till after dark.
I'm going to write to Aunt Florence so goodbye. Ever your affectionate daughter Gertrude

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