ABSTRACT
Salim and Aisha travel by canoe (tarada) to the village of Imam ʿAbdullah in the Iraqi marshlands. She meets a Venetian traveller, Ambrosio Bembo, who is on his way to Basra. They witness traditional methods of making buildings, mats and other items from reeds, before being invited to an audience with the chief (shaykh) of the settlement. This occurs in a large reed structure known as a mudhif. Bembo gifts Venetian glass beads to the chief and gives one also to Aisha.
