Page 75 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

resident in Ur though many ot them are natives ot Dilmun or ot
the lands beyond, are full of scorn for the fat merchants ashore

who rake in the profits and refuse to share the risks. But the
sight of the sails straining to the fresh breeze, and the conscious­

ness of a full cargo of woolens aboard, serve soon to banish the
cares of shore life, while the bends of the river and the frequent
sandbanks force them to keep their attention on the helmsmen at

the large steering oars astern.
In the afternoon they cross the bar into the open waters of
the Persian Gulf and as the sun goes down make landfall at the

island of Failaka off the Gulf of Kuwait. There, on the sheltered
southern shore, is a little town of colonists from Dilmun, and
there the ships can be drawn ashore for the night, the captains

gladly paying a toll on their cargo for the protection of the town­
ship, rather than face the risk of a cutting-out expedition from

the piracy-addicted mainland if they anchor farther down the
coast.
There is no such security the next night. After a day of coast­

ing along the ocher shores, they must anchor in the lee of one of
the sandy headlands and hold nightlong watch against raiders

from the Bedouin tribes ashore. It is with relief that they see the
dawn break and start out to sea once more on the last day’s voy­
age to Dilmun.

Dilmun is the island now known as Bahrain, and on its north­
ern coast the limestone defensive walls and temples of two large
cities stand out clearly, from the sea, against the dusty green of

the date palms. With its abundant springs of fresh water and
luxuriant vegetation, Dilmun has been famed for a thousand
years for its health and fertility. The seamen know and, as they

walk the ship up the shelving beach, recite in monotonous sing­
song the lays of Dilmun, the blessed land of the gods; how it be­

came the home of Ziusudra, whom the gods saved from the
Deluge, and how Gilgamesh found there, and lost again, the se­
cret of immortality.

On the beach many ships are drawn up, most of them larger
than the ships from Ur. These are the ocean-going ships, ships

om the mountainous land of Makan, beyond the entrance to the
Gulf, and ships from Meluhha, the Indus valley itself, a whole