Page 292 - The Tigris Expedition

CHAPTER 9

In the Indus Valley
in Search of Meluhha

On Monday, 30January, the sky over Pakistan was blue and the sea
was without breaking crests as the ocean-going salvage tug Jason of
Norway slid around Ras Ormara and into the large bay on its
western side.
The storm that had struck the coast three days earlier had abated,
and Captain Hansen of Bergen was standing on the bridge with
binoculars, looking for a wreck. There was none to be seen. He
searched for derelicts among the fallen rocks and treacherous
sandbars at the foot of the lofty cliffs, but in vain.
But peacefully anchored in the middle of the bay was a moon-
shaped boat, the strangest watercraft the captain and his Norwegian
crew of twelve had ever seen afloat. Not an Arab dhow. Not a
Chinese junk. Certainly not a Pakistani canoe. There was not even a
name on the vessel’s stern, for it was nothing but a sheaf.
At slow speed the 1200-ton salvage ship moved up alongside the
little boat and anchored. The vessel they had discovered proved to
be abandoned, but secured to the bottom by ropes. There was not a
living soul on deck nor inside the open doors of the two woven
huts. But there were plates and cups and an empty frying pan on the
outdoor table, and shark tails and underwear hung side by side to
dry on the cane walls. Stockfish was hanging in the mast stays, and
rolls of toilet paper were hanging inside two tiny outboard bal­
conies astern.
The captain and his men began to search the long sandy isthmus
at the end of the bay and observed a crowd of people all gathered at
one spot on the beach. They were huddled together in a compact
ring, watching something, and others were running from inland to
catch a glimpse of whatever they had found in the sand. Captain
Hansen lowered the landing barge and hurried ashore with some of

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