Page 218 - The Tigris Expedition

We Gain Control of Tigris
our
still in the water and HP was quick to mee* plonked He almost
lost friend back to the reed-ship where he g where happy
kissed the bundles as he climbed back to us on ig » wa$
hand-shakings and embraces awaited him from left an g •
just great. Rashad was a splendid fellow. We all wanted o <
adventures, and he just came back at the right time for us to ga
around the lunch table. Carlo produced a steaming risotto and
salami. Gherman opened tequila, Yuri vodka, and I Norwegian
aquavit. There were triple reasons to celebrate, and first of all we
toasted Rashad’s return.
Rashad was almost overcome with joy at all these festivities in
addition to the happy ending of his involuntary captivity. The six
men in the dhow had lost contact with us after Sirri island, when
Said hastened away after finding himself illegally in Iranian waters.
He had later been afraid of coming back against the weather, as the
sea was wild and the dhow in a shaky condition. It was leaking, and
things got worse when the bolts connecting the only pump snapped
one by one until water poured through everywhere. The pitching
and rolling became indescribable, and the splashing from side to
side inside the square fresh-water tank became so violent that the
seams opened and four-fifths of the water supply ran out into the
hull. The excessive pitching caused by all the water running back
and forth in the hull made the propeller rotate almost as much above
water as under, with the result that the pistons started to grumble
and create engine trouble. Finally, also before they left us, the
steering had become hazardous; the metal casing of the rudder lever
broke at the seams and the wooden parts began to waver about.
They had not meant to leave us that evening we came to Sirri, but
the next day the waves had become still worse and they had no
choice. Rashad had argued desperately with the captain and the
crew to keep a watch for us, but they had been forced to save their
own skins. Everyone on the dhow had been dead tired by the time
they had come beside the oil rigs, and they had headed as fast as they

27. The temple was in the midst of vast prehistoric copper mines; in
one of them an entire mountain had been transformed into a valley
and the only piece remaining is a monumental gateway left where
the long-forgotten miners had first entered the rock.
28. The archaeologist Paolo Costa shows the author and Norman
prehistoric slag heaps with a half-consumed mountain in the back­
ground. Probably the output from the mines had been brought out
to waiting reed-ships from Bahrain and Mesopotamia in vessels like
these still in local use.
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