176 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



107 1. The seed-time here, as in Tunis, is during the months of October and November, 

 when wheat, barley, rice, Indian corn, millet, and various kinds of pulse, are sown. In 

 six months, the crops are harvested, trod out by oxen or horses, winnowed by throwing 

 with a shovel against the wind, and then lodged in subterraneous magazines. 



1072. The empire of Morocco is an extensive territory of mountains and plains, and 

 chiefly an agricultural country. The mountains consist of limestone or clay, or a mix- 

 ture of both, and no vestiges appear of granite, on which they are supposed to rest. The 

 climate is temperate and salubrious, and not so hot as its situation would lead us to 

 suppose. The rains are regular in November, though the atmosphere is not loaded with 

 clouds : January is summer ; and in March barley -harvest commences. The soil consists 

 either of pure sand, often passing into quicksand, or of pure clay ; often so abundantly 

 mixed with iron ochre, that agricultural productions, such as wax, gum, wool, &c. are 

 distinguished by a reddish tint, which, in the wool, cannot be removed by washing or 

 bleaching. Cultivation, in this country, requires little labor, and, in general, no ma- 

 nure ; all other weeds and herbaceous plants, not irrigated, are, at a certain season, burnt 

 up by the sun, as in some parts of Spain (696.) ; the ground being then perfectly 

 clean and dry, is rendered friable, and easily pulverised by the rains ; and one rude stir- 

 ring suffices both for preparing the soil and covering the seed. The produce in wheat, 

 rice, millet, maize, barley, chick-peas (^Cicer arietinum)^ is often sixty fold; thirty fold is 

 held to be an indiflerent harvest. 



1073. In general they make use of no manure, except that which is left on the fields by 

 their flocks and herds. But those people who inhabit places near forests and woods, 

 avail themselves of another method to render the soil productive. A month or two 

 before the rains commence, the farmer sets fire to the underwood, and by this confla- 

 gration clears as much land as he intends to cultivate. The soil, immediately after this 

 treatment, if carefully ploughed, acquires considerable fertility, but is liable soon to be- 

 come barren, unless annually assisted by proper manure. This system of burning down 

 the woods for the sake of obtaining arable land, though not generally permitted in states 

 differently regulated from this, is allowable in a country, the population of which bears 

 so small a proportion to the fertility of the soil, and in which the most beautiful tracts 

 are suffered to remain unproductive for want of hands to cultivate them. In this man- 

 ner the nomadic Arab proceeds in his conflagrations, till the whole neighborhood 

 around him is exhausted ; he then packs up his tents and travels in search of another 

 fertile place where to fix his abode, till hunger again obliges him to continue his migra- 

 tion. Thus it is computed, that at one and the same time no more than a third part of 

 the whole country is in a state of cultivation. 



1074. The live stock of Morocco consists of numerous flocks and herds. Oxen of a 

 small breed are plentiful, and also camels ; the latter animal being used both in agri- 

 culture, for travelling, and its flesh as food. The horses are formed for fleetness and 

 activity, and taught to endure fatigue, heat, cold, hunger, and thirst. Mules are much 

 used, and the breed is encouraged. Poultry is abundant in Morocco ; pigeons are ex- 

 cellent ; partridges are plentiful ; woodcocks are scarce ; but snipes are numerous in the 

 season ; the ostrich is hunted both for sport and for profit, as its feathers are a consider- 

 able article of traffic ; hares are good ; but rabbits are confined to the northern part of 

 the empire, from Saracha to Tetuan. Fallow deer, the roebuck, the antelope, foxes, and 

 other animals of Europe, are not very abundant in Morocco ; lions and tigers are not 

 uncommon in some parts of the empire : of all the species of ferocious animals found in 

 this empire, the wild boar is the most common : the sow has several litters in the year, 

 and her young, which are numerous, serve as food for the lion. 



1075. The nomadic agriculturists form themselves into incampments, called douhars, 

 (Jig. 175.) and composed of numerous tents, which form a circle or crescent, and their 



175 ^ 



flocks and herds returning from pasture occupy the centre. Each douhar has a chief, 

 who is invested with authority for superintending and governing a number of these en- 

 campments ; and many of the lesser subdivisions are again reunited under the govern- 

 ment of a " bashaw ;" some of whom have 1000 douhars under their command, Their 



