Book I, 



AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA. 



175 



141 A^io - 





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AW* ^fvM^ J 





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142 



1089. T/ie agricultural implements of Egypt are simple ; but some of them, particularly 

 the contrivances for raising water, very ingenious. The plough is of the rudest kind, 

 as are the cart and spade. 



1090. The operations of threshing and sowing have been already described (1078, 

 1079.) ; that of irrigation is performed as in other countries. At present there are eighty- 

 canals in use for this purpose, some of them twenty, thirty, and forty leagues in length. 

 The lands near the river, as the Delta, are watered directly from it : the water is raised 

 by wheels in the dry season ; and, when the inundation takes place, it is retained on the 



fields for a certain time by 

 small embankments made 

 round them. 



1091. Nubia, the Ethiopia 

 of the ancients, isamiserable 

 country or desert, thinly in- 

 habited by a wretched peopl e, 

 who live chiefly on millet, 

 and dwell in groups of mud 

 huts. (Jig. 142.) 



Scbsect. 3. Present State of Agriculture in the Mohammedan States of the North of Africa. 



1092. These are Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, territories chiefly on the 

 southern shore of the Mediterranean ; rich and celebrated in the ages of antiquity, but 

 at present depressed by the barbarism and fanaticism of their rulers, who are in general 

 tributary to tiie Porte. 



1093. Tripoli is generally distinguished into maritime and inland. In neither is there 

 much agriculture ; for the inhabitants of countries on the coast live chiefly by commerce 

 and piracy, and those of the inland parts on plunder and robbery. There are a few 

 fields of grain, chiefly rice, round the capital, date palms, olives, and what is called the 

 lotus tree (Zizyphus .Lotus), whose fruit is reckoned superior to the date, and makes 

 excellent wine. 



1094. The kingdom of Tunis was formerly the chief seat of Carthaginian power. The 

 soil is in general impregnated with marine salt and nitre, and springs of fresh water are 

 more rare than those of salt. But the Tunisians are much more agriculturists than their 

 neighbours either of Tripoli or Algiers. The southern parts of the country are sandy, 

 barren, and parched by a burning sun : the northern parts enjoy a better soil and tem- 

 perature, and are more under cultivation : near the sea, the country is rich in olive 

 trees : the western part abounds in mountains and hills, and is watered by numerous 

 rivulets ; it is extremely fertile, and produces the finest and most abundant crops. The 

 first rains commonly fall in September, and then the farmers break up the ground, sow 

 their grain, and plant beans, lentils, and garvancos. By May following harvest com- 

 mences ; and we may judge of its productiveness by what the Carthaginians experienced 

 of old. The ox and the buffalo are the principal beasts of labour, and next the ass, 

 mule, and horse. The zebu, or humped ox (fig. 143.), 

 considered by many naturalists as a distinct species, is 

 common both in this and other kingdoms of northern 

 Africa. 



1095. The territory of Algiers, in an agricultural 

 point of view, is chiefly distinguished by the fertile 

 plain of Mettijiah, a vast country which stretches fifty 

 miles in length, and twenty in breadth, to the foot of 

 one of the branches of Mount Atlas. This plain is 

 watered by several streams, the soil is light and fertile, 

 and it is better cultivated than any other district of the 



143 



