Page 222 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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10 NEGLECTED ARABIA

for direction that is unerring, and a courage that is exemplary, half the
crew are on their knees and faces, prostrate in prayer before Allah.

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“Dire was the tossing, deep the groans,” when morning broke after a •. 1
restless night rolling over crest and wallowing in trough in a boat becalmed.
Hut daybreak brings relief in a freshening breeze, so that by noon we pass •• |
Khaburah, the wood-depot of the Gulf, where the precious commodity,
brought from afar by camel-back or donkey, can be seen stacked in piles
the entire length of the town. Occasionally we pass a fishing smack within
hailing distance,—a quaint craft called a “shasha” made solely of date-
sticks, about twelve feet long, and peculiar to the Batineh coast—wherein
the toiler sits half immersed in water. Greetings are exchanged, and
little pleasantries. The cook inquires eagerly for fish, and the doctor’s
assistant shouts the news “the Doctor goes to Sohar,” by which system
of wireless telephony the people in these isolated towns and scattered
villages learn of current events.
Sunset and evening once more, and another night under the stars, cool
and clear, but for comfort in still air and roughened sea, worse than the
last. At midnight our fitful doze is disturbed by the naked figures of
swarthy men crawling over the top of us to reach the rudder which has
become entangled in a fishing net set out by the inhabitants of a neighbor-
ing village. In extricating the boat they seize a fish, weighing about ten
pounds, caught in its meshes. “Finder keeps!” But though the capture is
effected by a member of the crew, it furnishes next day part of a com­
munal meal for all aboard. Such are the manners of the Gulf-folk.
Ill
At Sohar it is to a relatively great house we are conducted after the I
furnmlitini of our arrivul are conehi(lcd-=-H typical Arab linnic uf the 1
heller order made of buked mud and roofed with palm tliutcli. The ground 1
floor, and “ground” floor it is, lends itself to ready conversion into a j
consulting office and a storeroom for equipment. The second floor can : 1
provide for an impromptu operating theatre and a convalescing ward, and |
higher up the assistants and servants are assigned the right wing, while we j
ensconce ourselves in the left. A few hours and everything is ashore, J
unpacked and in order, and it is known “we” are open for business. \
For weeks thereafter that house is a centre of mercy for necessitous I
and suffering people, and of a work that brings its own reward. From ' I
the medical standpoint the first and immediate patient is an Arab “nok- j
hada” all the way from Sur. The operation (it is a case of hernia) is ]
successfully performed under conditions which would have struck dismay j
into the soul of an interne in an institution in the West, but under the best \
circumstances possible in Sohar. A rough wooden bench is raised waist-
high upon a dozen flag-stones at the foot, and nearly as many sacks of lime
at the head,—it is the operating table. And for a pillow the patient is
given a small tin trunk. The ubiquitous fly must be disregarded. Neither
is the courage of the operator nor the confidence of the operatee phased
one iota by such unavoidable disadvantages. And under such conditions
the whole gamut of ailments to which flesh is heir must be met and dealt 1: