Читать книгу Mustafa's Last Well - Tony Preedy - Страница 14

Chapter 8

They followed the example set by the pile of sandals at the entrance and abandoned their shoes. The English and Scots men found themselves in a scented, dark, and noisy room, around the walls of which ornate cushions had been arranged. Here sat the bare-footed leaders of the other influential tribes of the Emirate, who had all heard rumours about oil being discovered in their country and were expecting confirmation during this meeting.

As the eyes of the white men grew accustomed to the lack of direct sunlight, they saw that all were dressed like Salim. Farnham thought their beards made them look older and wiser than their years. He knew them to be simple men whose lives were ruled by Islamic tradition and, by his standards, a misplaced sense of family honour. At one end of the room was an empty seat, obviously the Emir’s, he thought. At the opposite end was a table, hardly visible through the haze of burning frankincense rising from clay burners scattered about the floor. At the table two Indians in smart European dress were sitting, scribes, he decided. The beards stopped wagging as each of the leaders became aware of the stocking footed visitors.

The Arabs stood, then shuffled away from Salim’s seat to make three spaces. Salim directed the visitors to one end of the incomplete circle that they had formed, where the first hand was offered. The visitors nervously shook it and received an enthusiastic but unrecognised greeting. Later, Farnham explained that they were asking after the state of their livestock and of the health of their relatives. The sailors mumbled “zain” in response, at what they thought might be appropriate breaks in the exchange, as Farnham had briefed them to do. His own response was more extensive, with greetings in Arabic, making appropriate enquiries of the Arabs and punctuating them with “alhamdulillah.” They moved to the next hand until all present had been likewise introduced by Salim. Salim then indicated for them to sit, before taking his seat. Farnham diplomatically ensured that the officers sat adjacent to Salim in order of seniority, with himself furthest away, indicating to the Arabs the sailor’s seniority to himself.

Salim gave a blessing; “Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim,” and called for cawah to be brought. Servants went around the assembly in order of seniority, with bowls in which to wash hands, followed by little beaten silver cups into which they poured cawah. This was itself something of a ceremony, fascinating the sailors, because the servant demonstrated his skill by pouring from a jug held above the heads of the recipient into the tiny cup held at the height of the recipient’s mouth without spilling a drop.

Salim started to address the meeting: “Honoured guests; as you know, I am sure, the Cornubia Company has confirmed that Allah has blessed our land with vast reserves of oil.” The Arabs nodded, some even smiled, and some proclaimed “Alhamdulillah,” as they each thought of the wealth and security it would bring to their own families. Salim continued, “The Company forecasts that from known reserves our oil will last for 50 years before the cost of extraction from the ground exceeds half of one American Dollar per barrel. Today the crude oil of Bahrain, taken by the Americans, costs them three dollars per barrel.”

Salim paused whilst the assembly savoured this good news, and gathered his courage to continue; “Cornubia have, unfortunately, more recently concluded that we would likely be dependent on the goodwill of our Eastern neighbour if we are to ship this oil out of our country to feed the worlds markets.” The smiles faded from the bearded faces as Salim continued, “It is known to our fishermen and pearl divers that the waters of Naamlah are shallow and they tell us that no oil tanker could enter these waters.” The expressions on the bearded faces now turned to anger, as they knew their neighbours would be jealous and awkward. Salim continued; “We understand that a Japanese company drilling there had concluded that the geology on their side of the great wadi was such that it could not offer any reserves of oil.” They all suspected that the mutual distrust between the Naamlahns and their feuding Eastern neighbours would make it impossible, short of Allah’s intervention, for an agreement to be reached which would allow their precious oil to be shipped via the deep waters of Haqum. In their culture, the Bedu attributed complicity in the news, particularly bad news, to the messenger. Thus, in this case, their anger was directed at Salim. As Farnham knew, because of this Europeans, when dealing with Arabs, frequently categorised their behaviour as untrustworthy when confronted with reluctance to convey unwelcome news or when failing to neither refuse or comply with a request. Often an unfavourable request would be met by agreement qualified by “Inshallah,” Allah willing. The more experienced would interpret this as a polite refusal.

Salim paused whilst he sipped his cawah, then continued; “The British Navy were requested by their King’s wazir, Churchill, to survey our waters and thereby confirm or disprove the words of our seafarers.”

One of the Indian scribes stopped writing and approached Salim, bowing respectfully, and passed a paper to him. He dismissed the scribe and continued to address the gathering, but with a smile barely hidden; “Friends, our esteemed guests, Commander Phillips and Commander Lightfoot of His Majesty’s ship Pegasus, have completed this survey of our waters and will report to you their findings.”

Lightfoot stood up, regretting having risen quickly, as his legs were still cramped, and he had difficulty balancing. As he gained composure, he nervously started to speak in English which none of the Arabs understood. “Thank you, Your Highness; I shall rely on Mister Farnham of the Colonial Office to address the meeting on my behalf.”

The Arabs were alarmed for they feared they were not to know the findings until a later translation was offered in their language when it would be too late to debate any problems that they anticipated. All present distrusted the spoken word unless it had been conveyed by the Holy Prophet. Some were already fearing financial ruin because their families had obtained loans on the strength of the rumoured findings by Cornubia. Several unconsciously moved their hands to the khanjar at their belts. Tension in the room subsided as Lightfoot stopped speaking and sat down, to be replaced by Farnham, who started to speak fluently in their language.

“Your Highness, Sheikhs, Gentlemen, Commander Lightfoot’s crew have completed a survey, as you know, and charts based on his results have been drawn by Commander Phillips to be published by our Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty in Taunton of our country.” He pointed to the white tube which Phillips had been nursing. “This copy will be left with his Highness and further copies will subsequently be available from Admiralty agents throughout the world. In the meantime, we confirm that the waters of Naamlah are not of sufficient depth to permit loading and shipment of oil from the shore.” A gasp of dismay swept the room as Farnham was now cast as the messenger of bad news.

Farnham could understand that Arab secretiveness did not allow them to comprehend why a chart of their waters should be made available to foreign navigators. This did not go unnoticed by the Arabs present, but they were more concerned by Phillips’s geographical revelation. Farnham sensed their anger and felt uneasy as he resumed; “However, the chart shows that there is a deep channel at the edge of the Eastern territorial limit where loading will be feasible either from lighters or from a floating pipe.” The faces of the Arabs were now transformed, turning to smiles as they saw the messenger in a new light. The beards were animated once more as they postulated on their good fortune.

Salim relaxed, pleased with the outcome, internally thanking Allah for preventing the meeting from ending in acrimony with weapons drawn as was so often the case at such gatherings where tribal interests conflicted. Salim indicated to the Indians that the food should be brought, and to the gathering he said; “Let us prepare to eat.”

The sailors, not knowing what was required of them, held back as the Arabs started raising themselves from their cushions, pulling themselves up by pressing on the tops of the canes that each carried. They started to leave the room, talking happily to each other.

Farnham whispered, “Don’t worry; we are going outside to wash, as is their tradition.” They found a servant waiting in the courtyard with a pitcher, from which he poured precious scented water over their hands. They watched the Arabs shaking off the water after wringing their hands. Some also wiped themselves on the izaar, which was all that they wore beneath their dishdash. The Englishmen settled for shaking, as Farnham explained; “Drying cloths are haraam, forbidden, by the Holy Prophet, because water to adequately cleanse them and thus prevent the passing of infection could not be spared in this part of the world.”

When back inside they saw that an enormous silver plate, as big as a cartwheel, containing a mound of rice and pieces of cooked meat had been placed on a woollen rug where they had previously been sitting. Other similar plates and rugs had been placed in front of the other guests. Salim invited everyone to eat. The sailors followed his and Farnham’s example, sitting with some difficulty and in an undignified manner on the rug because of their shorts, cross-legged around the plate. Farnham had warned them before leaving the ship that this would be expected of them, and if they found themselves in this situation, they should avoid presenting the soles of their feet to the view of the Arabs, who would otherwise be offended.

Salim selected the eyes and passed them to the sailors and broke off some tender shoulder meat for Farnham. The Arabs started to tuck in, but both sailors were wishing they could be elsewhere as they politely chewed the gelatinous lumps and felt the circulation failing in their legs. Now the Arabs were balling rice in their hands before skilfully tossing it into their mouths. The sailors tried to do the same but only succeeded in making a mess over their shorts and socks. Farnham mouthed something to Lightfoot which he missed but later learned was advice to be wary of the offal, particularly intestines, as they often did not get cooked sufficiently to kill inherent digestive bacteria. As they endured rather than enjoyed the meal the talk among the Arabs, in which Farnham participated, was about forming a government to administer the potential wealth of their country for the benefit of its citizens. What the leaders did not say, but were all thinking with varying degrees of selfishness was, “How may I manipulate the economy for the benefit of my family at the expense of the others?”

One such leader was Idris bin Mubarak al-Jaboo. Idris was the leader of a family whose ancestors had challenged the al-Wyly tribe for control of the country, but now they had become wealthy by operating fishing boats and exploiting pearl divers amongst other commercial, sometimes dubious, activities. He was, in appearance, with close-spaced sunken black eyes and thin hooked nose, the epitome of shifty-ness, thought Farnham. He attributed Idris’ appearance to generations of inbreeding amongst first cousins.

Salim was impressed with Farnham’s knowledge of the Arab culture and language and was curious to know his background; at the risk of being thought impertinent, he questioned him. Farnham explained, as they ate, that he had spent many years as a secretary at the British diplomatic mission in Mesopotamia and was later in Eritrea where he had met and married an Egyptian teacher of English.