Page 110 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

share of good breeding, with a degree of honour incompatible
with the rest of their character, adhering strictly to any engage­
ment which they may have formally entered, far superior on this
point than either Persians or Arabs.’
From his quarters in the Residency, Loch had a view of the
canal crowded with craft of various types, which, owing to the
narrowness of the canal, constantly collided, causing noisy dis­
putes, which reminded him of‘the voluble ribaldry of a seaport
in Spain’. There was a ferry opposite the Residency. ‘The
people were transported in a large circular basket made of wicker­
work, covered with skins besmeared with bitumen. The ferry­
man cautioned the people, as they stepped in, how to do so, lest
they might overturn his frail barge, and he forced them to sit
down. I have seen twelve to fifteen people sitting with their legs
set across, as you see a set of children when playing Hunt the
Slipper. When the ferryman pushed his vessel off from the shore '
it rolled from side to side, and all gave a shriek, as if they were
immersed in water. The person who guides the basket now be­
gins to paddle, sitting on the gunwhale or side, then you see the
whole twirling round in the most ridiculous manner possible.
Thus, by an innumerable number of circuits, they eventually
reach the opposite bank.’ This type of boat, which is called a
‘gufa’ in Arabic, can still be seen on the rivers and canals in Iraq.
Loch describes the people of Basra as ‘a motley crew, some
having gaudy dresses, others having merely a shirt of what was
once white cloth, or nothing but a cloth round the waist’. They
wore a variety of clothes, which in some cases denoted their
nationality or religion. Merchants, especially in the cold weather,
were handsomely dressed in rich Indian stuffs, with Kashmir
shawls, the Persians favouring dark greens and yellows, and the
Arabs wearing white or light brown. The Turks, according to
Loch, ‘delight in very gaudy colours and richness of dress, having
quantities of gold and silver lace on their jackets and waistcoats.
They are also fond of fine caparisons for their horses.’ The
desert Arabs and those from the Gulf, wore the same dress as they
do today; Jews wore dark clothes, and the Indians wore a mixture
of Persian and Arab dress.
On the day after Loch’s arrival, he was awakened, ‘by a loud,
discordant sound of “hie, hac, hie, hac” ’, which became so irk­
some as hardly to be bearable. This was the voice of a begging
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