Obfervations &c. 



221 



the Ears as often fhoot out into a Number of leiTer ones, 

 thereby affording a confiderable Increafe ; though never, as 

 far as I could be informed, a hundred Fold, according to what 

 hath been reported of This Country by the Antients. 



There is one Kind only of Wheat and Barley, which is gene- r/>i.''^#r«;/ 

 rally cultivated in this Country : for Rye, and a large pointed £";«. "^ 

 Wheat, called {Jinn ah Neffer j^^ ^W^] The f^ulttirsWmg, isvukurs 

 fown in too fmall Quantities to deferve our Notice. However ^^'"^" 

 both thefe forts of Grain differ in their Quality according to 

 the Nature of the Ground wherein they are fown. For That 

 which is produced in the Plains of Biifdeerah, is accounted to 

 be the beft in the Kingdom of Tunis : whilft at Algiers, the 

 Corn of Teffailah and Zeidoure, but efpecially the Murwaany^ Murwaany. 

 (as they call a larger Kind of Wheat at Medea,) keep up the 

 greateft Reputation. In fome Diftriots , where they have a 

 Command of Water during the Summer Seafon, as near the 

 Sikke and Habrah, in the Mettijiah, at the River Hammah 

 below Οοηβαηύηα, and in feveralof the Plains along the Banks 

 of the Mejerdah, the Inhabitants cultivate Rice, Indian Corn, 



Rice. 



and particularly a white fort of Millet, which the Arabs calU^'^'^^^o'-'^• 

 T>rah, and prefer to Barley for the fat'ning of their Cattle. Drah. 

 Oats are not cultivated at all by the.^r^^i; (the Horfes ofNoOats, or 

 this Country feeding altogether upon Barley;) neither is BiggwE 

 (or Winter Wheat) fo much as known in this Climate. 



The Moors and Arabs continue to tread out their Corn after τ^ΐ-^ treading 

 the Primitive Cuftom of theEaft. It is a much quicker Method""'^ ' ^'''"' 

 than Ours, but lefs cleanly. For as It is performed upon any 

 level Plat of Ground, daubed over only with Cows Dung ; a 

 great Quantity of Earth and Gravel muft unavoidably be ga- 

 thered up with the Grain : not to mention that the Straw, which 

 is the only Fodder of thefe Chmates, is hereby ihattered to 

 Pieces. After the Grain is troden out. They winnow It, by ^/^^ ■»>;»»<,»- 

 throwing It up into the Wind with Shovels, lodging It after- '"^ 

 wards in Matt amor es ' or fubterraneousMagazines, as the Cuftom The hdoiv 

 was formerly (according to ?/i«;/^,) of other Nations. I have "{J' ^'^^^^^^" 

 fometimes feen two or three hundred of them together, the 

 fmalleft of which would contain four hundred Bufhels. 



I Vid. Not. p. 2j. 2 Utiliffime fervantiir (fi-umenta) in fcrobibus, quos S'lros vocanr, 

 ut in Cappadocia & in Tbracia. In Hifpania & y^frica, ante omnia, ut licco folo fiant, cu- 

 rant : mox ut palca fubftcrnatur. Praeterea cum (pica fua conduntur, [non ha Iwdie mos yifrica 

 f/?] Itafrumentafinullus fpirituspenetiet, tertum efl; nihil maleficum nafci. Plin. I.18. cap. 30. 



Κ k k Hirtius 



