BY LIEUTENANT E. W. STURDY.
The Blosse Lynch is the largest boat on the Tigris, being built somewhat on the model of the American river steamers, and on the Blosse Lynch Tom Fairweather was embarked on a trip from Bassorah to Bagdad.
Bagdad, the City of the Caliphs, is five hundred miles from Bassorah, first up the Shatt-el-Arab, and then against the swift current of the Tigris, which runs at the rate of five miles an hour.
This voyage generally lasts three days, but sometimes, when the river is low and the nights dark, it is impossible to steam by night at all, or to go fast even by day. But Tom seemed born to good fortune and the fair weather which his name bespoke. The steamer sped on her way favored in all respects.
Tom's father had been to Bagdad before, and did not care to go again, so Tom was put under the charge of Lieutenant Jollytarre, who had decided to make the trip, although he, too, had made it already.
Such a motley throng on deck! There were keen-eyed swarthy Arabs of the desert, and black-eyed, russet-hued Arabs of the Gulf (the Persian Gulf, be it understood); there were Mussulmans from India on a pilgrimage to Kerbela; Jews of Bagdad returning to their homes after a business visit to Bassorah; there were Christians of Bagdad and Christians of Mosul. To be sure, these latter looked as unlike the ordinary Christian of Tom's acquaintance as possible, in their flowing robes and bright colors. But then Christianity and trousers and frock-coats are not altogether inseparable. Besides, there were Arab women, closely veiled, squatted about the deck. Sometimes the veils fell, and displayed the adornment of rings in the noses of these fair Arabians, blue lines elegantly tattooed on their chins and foreheads and across their lips.
You may fancy that it was a source of endless amusement to Tom to observe these different groups. Orientals are a tranquil set, and the quaint figures about the deck of the steamer changed their positions but seldom throughout the day; they smoked their caldeoous and drank their coffee seated on carpets and mats, and only stirred at the hour of prayer.
"Ain't it queer to see them saying their prayers right out before everybody?" commented Tom.
"Yes, it is," agreed the Lieutenant.
Presently they began to approach Kumah.