Page 223 - The Tigris Expedition

The Tigris Expedition
side the strait made them most tempting to explore for anyone
who, like ourselves, had never been there before. They fired our
curiosity, even though we modern sailors knew from geography
that one coast ran on to India and the Far East, while the other ran to
the Red Sea and Africa.
Carlo was the only one who voted for leaving the menace of
rocks and shores and sailing straight into the open ocean as fast as
we could. He felt restless and wanted us to move on while the wind
was good. Norris pleaded for a chance to go close inshore along the
Arabian peninsula, since the rugged peaks and fierce cliffs of Oman
were among the most spectacular formations any of us had seen
from the sea. The strange formations offered him some really
impressive sequences for the expedition film. Norman supported
this itinerary. He said it would take us down to the port of Muscat,
where we could overhaul the rig and the steering system before we
set off into the open ocean. Others, and I for one, were fascinated
by the alternative possibility of following the coast of mainland
Asia.
Iran, the former Persian Empire, was now well within sight on
the other side of the Hormuz Strait. Distant blue ridges hovered
inland behind friendly coastal hills and hummocks. They seemed to
L eastwards in parallel rows until lost between sea and sky in the
beckon a tempting invitation to follow them as they undulated
direction of Pakistan. In the broad daylight blue mountains merged
into blue sky, but they stood out clearly in the early dawn when the
sky behind them was fiery red and pregnant with a hidden sun.
From left to right this coastline gradually petered out, and just
before the silhouettes of the continental formations completely
disappeared in the eastern ocean they took on bizarre shapes such
that we could never quite determine whether they were those of
fantastic rock islets or cloud formations. It would have been
extremely tempting for any early explorer to follow this enticing
shoreline eastwards.
I was particularly tempted myself, since wc knew those hills
I
would guide us to the coasts of Pakistan and India, the former realm
of the Indus valley civilisation. This had been one of the three major
civilisations of the ancient world, second to none in age and
importance after those of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Throughout
the last five millennia an untold number of ma-gur must have been
among the great variety of ships that had followed this continental
coast to and from the Hormuz Strait. Archaeology has proved
extensive contact between Mesopotamian ports, like Ur and Uruk,
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