Page 106 - The Tigris Expedition

CHAPTER 4

Problems Continue

There was no more river. No more land. The balam had been paid
off in Fao and had returned upstream. The vast mud flats extending
into the gulf from Iraq and Iran formed an indefinable coastline as
we entered salt water and hoisted sail on what looked like a floating
fruit basket. Bundled reeds and plaited canes bobbed merrily along
with red tomatoes, green salad, yellow citrus fruits, carrots and
potatoes topping hemp sacks and wickerwork containers. We were
loaded with perishables for as long as they would keep on the sun-lit
deck of an open raft-ship. In a few days all these fresh provisions
would be consumed by eleven hungry men or else covered by
mould just as fast as green seaweed would start growing on our
submerged reeds.
We had docked at Fao at the transition from the sandy plains to
the mud flats long enough to fill our vessel with these delicate
garden products, and also carried aboard a good supply of onions,
garlic, raisins and a variety of local nuts, seeds and grains that would
keep at sea.
From the port of Fao a long and narrow channel had been
dredged through the vast empty tidal flats to the open sea for big
ships to be piloted in and out along numbered navigation buoys.
Tigris had been towed through this channel by a professional Iraqi
pilot tug. Mud, mud, nothing but mud. All formed by the never-
ending deposits of fine river silt from Mount Ararat in Turkey, and
desert dust from the twin river plains of Iraq. We passed lazily with
the outgoing tide before sunrise.
Wc met the first slight swells from the open gulf as we passed the
Khafka light-buoy and the pilot boat left us to ourselves. The sun
rose red in morning mist over an open sea. Wc were filled with
expectation.
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