Ohfer'vations (Sec. 



221 



the Ears as often fhoot out into a Number of leffcr 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 ^QnQ- Their dijfcrsnt 

 rally cultivated in this Country : for Rye, and a large pointed Gr^;>l 

 Wheat, called [J'mnah Neffer j^ ^W^?-] Tbe l^ultursWtng, isvuimrs 

 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 Bufdeerah, is accounted to 

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

 Corn of Tejffailah and Zeidoure, but efpecially the Murwaany^ Mmwainy. 

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

 greateft Reputation. In fome Diftrifts , where they have a 

 Connnand of Water during the Summer Seafon, as near the 

 S'lkke and Habrah, in the Mettijiah, at the River Hammah 

 below Conjlant'tna, 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 call^^'^i^"^^'^''- 

 7)rah, and prefer to Barley for the fanning of their Cattle, orah. 

 Oats are not cultivated at all by the Arabs ; (the Horfes of No oats, or 

 this Country feeding altogether upon Barley;) neither is BiggwlfeaT. 

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



The Moors and Arabs continue to tread out their Corn after ^k^ trcadhrg 

 the Primitive Cuftom of theEail. 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 Climates, is hereby Ihattered to 

 Pieces. After the Grain is troden out. They winnow It, by ^he tohmow 

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

 wards in Mattamores ' or fubterraneousMagazines, as the Cuftom ue hd-mg 

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

 fometimes feen two or three hundred of them together, the 

 fmalleft of which would contain four hundred Bulhels. 



I Vid. Not. p. 2y. 2 Utiliflime fervantur (frumenta) in fcrobibus, quos S'lros vocant, 

 ut in Cappadocia & in Thracia. In Htfpania & yifrica, ante omnia, ut Ikco folo fiant, cu- 

 rant : mox ut palea fubfternatur. Praeterea cum fpica fua conduntur, [non ita hodie mos y^fricA 

 eft] Ita frumenta finullus fpiritus penetrct, certum eft nihil maleficum nafci. Plin. I.18. cap. 30. 



K k k Hirtitis 



