Arrival in the Middle East

10 September 1940

… [W]e reached the head of the Persian Gulf and came to the entrance of the Shat-el-Arab – the short broad river made by the conflux of the Tigris and Euphrates. The head of the gulf is an abysmal dreariness of mud – silt brought down by these great streams and deposited in the sea through the ages.

Abadan with its great oil refineries passed below and then Basra soon came into view; unfortunately, the air was heavy with dust whirled up from the desert by a 50 miles per hour headwind and visibility was restricted. The Shat-el-Arab at Basra is a magnificent stream at least half a mile wide, with docks and steamers and myriads of native craft gliding along with their huge white sails, like moths fluttering on a narrow mirror. The country for miles around is green with plantations of date palms, for it must be remembered that Iraq (old Mesopotamia) supplied the world with more than half its dates. …

We practically stepped from the Circe onto the fine garden lawn before the Shat-el-Arab hotel in the late afternoon and escaped much of the blazing heat. After the usual customs formalities conducted in the inspection room of the hotel, we were into the lounge hall for afternoon tea. An Aladdin's palace in the wilderness! In this splendid hall the ultra modern contrasted queerly with the native attendants.