Page 61 - The Tigris Expedition

The Tigris Expedition
should consist of two compact rccd cylinders each ten feet in
diameter amidship, getting narrower as they curved up in bow and
stem to the height of about twenty feet. We had to reach this height
by means of the combined jig and scaffold.
Aladdin’s Lamp must still have been working for us, for two
truck-loads of used scaffold planks and crate boards were dumped
outside the fence for our use just when they were needed most.
Indeed, strange rumours had spread up and down the river to other
Europeans temporarily at work in the country. The gossip was that
we were erecting building scaffolds in the rcsthousc garden and had
already bought tons of reeds, so we were certainly about to set up
another paper mill! Far up the river was a German paper mill
actually under construction, and the Germans who came down to
look at us learnt that we were about to build a reed-ship to sail away
with one of their own countrymen on board. Far down the river,
below Basra, was a barely finished Danish cement factory, and the
Danes who came up learnt that one of their compatriots was also to
come with us. The result of the German and Danish visits were two
stacks of boards and planks, which are worth their weight in gold in
Iraq today, even as in Sumerian times.
HP’s wooden jig was a master construction that merited perma­
nence for its architectonic perfection and elegant lines. We were just
about to turn our attention to the actual reed work with the berdi
beautifully stacked within easy reach, when another committee of
European-looking Arabs marched in with tape-measures and
began pacing about between our stacks.
i
I smelt new problems and approached the party politely. Indeed,
they were about to build a fountain, and the berdi had to be moved,
since we had placed them just where the fountain was to stand.
‘A fountain?’ I said, ‘but can’t the fountain wait until we have
finished the ship?’
No, the fountain was needed now.
‘But there is a big fountain out of service between the trees just
across the road,’ I said. ‘Can’t you use that?’ I pointed to a large
wreck of a structure, dry as a bone, with rusty tubes and spouts fifty
yards from our fence.
No, the fountain had to be right here, and they generously gave
us a week to clear the centre of the garden. Our stout friend, the
Mayor ofQurna, explained to us in a friendly way that the fountain
was something important.
We spent another day carrying the brittle reeds again in all
directions, away from the building platform and up nearer to

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