volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

276 Al-Kufah to Musayyib.
saying that the sailing boat had arrived, and we went
down to the river to arrange for passages to Musayyib
if possible. The captain was quite ready to make a
little extra money, but he said there was very little
room vacant on his boat, and that if we came we must
eat with him, and sit and sleep wherever we could find
room. He wanted to get away as soon as possible,
as he feared that stormy weather was coming. I asked
Hasan to buy some dates and anything that he could
get in the way of food, and we started on our return
journey in the afternoon. Our progress was slow, but
much better than I expected, though the wind dropped
at sunset, and we tied up for the night. Towards the
morning a warm wind began to blow in great gusts
from the south and south-east, and the captain sailed
before daylight. The wind became more violent after
daybreak, and we were driven on to the west bank several
times. Before noon the rain came down in sheets and
wetted us to the skin, and the very air we breathed
seemed to be watery ; but we were thankful for the
gale, because it drove our boat up-stream at a comparatively
good pace, quite four or five mUes an hour.
As long as the gale was blowing we could light no fire,
and for two whole days and nights we could neither
dry our clothes nor boil water to make tea. On the
third day after we left Al-Kufah the wind dropped
suddenly and the rain ceased, and the sun burst forth,
and its fierce heat made the waste water on both sides of
the Hindiyah Canal to steam, and filled the air with
a stifling, misty vapour which reeked of mud and slime.
The captain tied up the boat to prevent it from being
swept downstream by the current, and it soon became
apparent that we could only move up-stream by towing.
We picked up a few men wherever we could and paid
them to tow for an hour or two, but it was very hard
work, and though I paid well for the service, the natives
we met were always unwilling to undertake it. WhUst
we were being dragged a few miles a day towards Musayyib
an acute attack of malaria seized me, and added
to the discomfort of the journey, for I had neither quinine