recreating tables from global files

I suffered a major server crash.

Everything is fully reinstalled now EXCEPT postgresql8.3

There was no way I could see to get postgres running except by
removing /var/lib/pgsql/data. That was, I assumed, okay, because I have
a full backup of all the files.

So ... I reinstalled postgresql binaries following the same procedure as
for the initial installation. I then restored the data/global files, but
postgresql, while finding the database, sees no tables whatever.

I am sure there must be a way to recreate the tables from the files in
the data/global directory but I don't know what that is. Further, of
course, the files representing the tables are identified by numbers, not
their table names.

Until I have the time to research a better way to do future upgrades, I
will block any future ones. Clearly I am missing something here. I even
tried to use the pg_dump untility but it too does not see the tables,
only the database.

Ugh ... I hope someone can render a little first aid. I didn't see this
one coming. Thank goodness this happened before we get into serious data
collection next month.

George