1948

In the matter of Bamboula we have our choice of covering the remains up again and returning the land to the owner in the condition in which we found it, or of purchasing the sections that we do not already own, and of taking steps to protect the walls against the weather. Megaw is in favor of sending his man down to undertake the work of preserving the walls. The cost of materials here would be almost nil, and I gathered that he was prepared to provide them. What is needed is waterproofing the tops of the walls with a plaster of clay and lime, strengthening some corners and weak spots in the same way, and filling in some floors that have been dug away up to the base of the walls. There are two main sections on Bamboula that come into question. One of them we already own, thus avoiding the rather much to our advantage to have it remain open. We do not own. It should considerable expense of refilling. The other owner is rather difficult not cost very much ideally, though the present owner is rather difficult and will certainly hold out for as much as he can get. The land would probably have to be bought out for I doubt that it would be much if any more than the cost of covering the remains up again. This will involve some expense. self for leaving them open. There are no big expanse of Bamboula. But the whole ensemble is quite impressive in its own way, and houses of the 2nd millennium is quite beautiful buildings on fascinating for the insight it gives into the life of the ordinary citizen at that time. There are not many sites just like it in this part of the world. I personally would be very sorry to see it covered up.

One place in which the expedition can definitely save some money is in transportation. The expedition transportation is now provided by a horrible old Hillman which George owns personally. In view of its awful condition I am afraid to take the responsibility of driving it. I for one am afraid have continued George's practise of hiring a and accordingly have considerable expense. It has reached the age where it chauffeur at constantly under repairs. He had a huge bill during the is almost constantly under repairs. He had a huge bill during the summer, and has recently had new pistons put in. The bill, more than the car is has not yet been paid. is £170, considerably more than the car is worth. George may be able to cut this down a bit, but even so it has become completely ridiculous. I think that we would have money over a period of three years, and have more reliable transportation. An import by buying a Jeep and encouraging George to sell his Hillman. An import permit would have to be obtained, and we would either have to find a right-hand drive one or else secure special permission to import a left-hand drive Jeep, which is normally frowned on here. I would like to see the Jeep owned by the expedition rather than by George personally; under the present arrangement necessary transportation is is not always available to members of the dig when it is needed (e.g. at the time when work starts in the morning). and George's personal desires are likely to take precedence over expedition routine. It would be easier to control this if the jeep belonged to the Museum. Transportation used to be a source of irritation when I was on the dig before the war, and I understand that it has become even more so since. What it really amounts to is that the expedition as such does not have its own transportation; George has his personal car which is available to the other members when and as George sees fit, but with restrictions on its use by others which do not apply to George. It cannot be counted on to take people to the dig at the time that work starts, or to bring them back at the hour it stops. This is one of the things that is making for bad spirit on the dig.