142 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



SuBSECT. 3. Of the jyresent State of -Agriculture in Independent Tatary. 



878. The extent of Independent Tatary can hardly be considered as well defined ; 

 but Pinkerton measures it from the Caspian Sea on the west to the mountains of Belus 

 on the east, a space of 870 miles ; and from the mountains of Gaur to the Russian boun- 

 daries on the north of the desert of Issim, a distance of 1500 miles. It is occupied by 

 the Bucharian, Tungusian, Kirgusian, and other Tatar hordes ; and is a celebrated and 

 interesting country, as being the probable seat of the most ancient Persian kingdoms, 

 and as having given birth to Zoroaster and other men eminent in Oriental literature. 

 Modern travellers represent the more civilised of this nation as indolent, but good- 

 natured. They are easily recognised among other varieties of man. 



879. The climate of this extensive country appears to be excellent, the heat even of 

 the southern provinces being tempered by the high mountains capped with perpetual 

 snow ; and though situated in the parallel of Spain, Greece, and Asiatic Turkey, the 

 proximity of the Siberian deserts and the lofty alps render the summer more temperate. 



880. The surface of the country presents a great variety ; and there are numerous 

 1 ivers, hills, and mountains. 



881. The soil near the rivers is very productive, so that the grass exceeds the height of 

 a man. In any other hands but those of the Tatars, this country might rival any Euro- 

 pean region. 



882. All that is known of the tillage of the Tatars is, that rice and other grains are cul- 

 tivated near the towns, but that the great dependence of the people is upon their flocks 

 and herds. Bucharia is the richest country, both in corn and cattle. There they have 

 horses, camels, oxen, sheep, and goats, which some individuals reckon by thousands, and 

 make large sales, especially of horses, to the Persians and Turks. They have also 

 dromedaries, which furnish a considerable quantity of woolly hair, which they clip off 

 periodically and sell to the Russians. The lambskins are celebrated, being damasked, as 

 it were, by clothing the little animal in coarse linen ; but the wool of the sheep is coarse, 

 and only used in domestic consumption for felts and thick cloths. The steppes, which 

 are of immense extent, supply them with objects of the 1 12 

 chace, wolves, foxes, badgers, antelopes, ermines, wea- 

 sels, mannots, &c. In the southern and eastern 

 mountains are found wild sheep (0\is Jl/usimon), the 

 ox of Thibet (Bos grunniens, Jig. 112.) which seems 

 to delight in snowy alps, chamois, tigers, and wild 

 asses. There seems throughout the whole of Tatary 

 to be a deficiency of wood ; and the botany of this im- - ^"^^ "_ - 

 mense region is as little known as its agriculture. 



SuBSECT. 4. Of the present State of Agriculture in Arabia. 



883. The extent of Arabia is somewhat greater than that of Independent Tatary. The 

 climate is hot, but there is a regular rainy season, from the middle of June to the end of 

 September, in some mountainous districts, and from November till February in others. 

 Tlie remaining months are perfectly dry ; so that the year in Arabia consists only of two- 

 seasons, the dry and the rainy. In the plains, rain is sometimes unknown for a whole 

 year. It sometimes freezes in the mountains, while the thermometer is at 8G" in the 

 plains, and hence at a small distance are found fruits and animals which might indicate 

 remote countries. 



884. The general surface presents a central desert of great extent, with a few fertile 

 oases or isles, and some ridges of mountains, chiefly barren and unwooded. The flou- 

 rishing provinces are those situated on the shores of the Red and Persian Seas, the interior 

 of the country being sterile for want of rivers, lakes, and perennial streams. The soil is 

 in general sandy, and in the deserts is blown about by the winds. 



885. I'he agricultural products are wheat, maize, doura or millet, barley, beans, lentils, 

 and rape, with the sugar-cane, tobacco, and cotton. Rice seems unknown in Yemen, 

 and oats throughout Arabia ; the horses being fed with barley, and the asses with 

 beans. They also cultivate " uars," a plant which dyes yellow, and is exported in great 

 quantities from Mocha to Oman ; and " fua," used in dyeing red ; likewise indigo. 

 The wheat, in the environs of Maskat, yields little more than ten for one; and in the best 

 cultivated districts of Yemen, fifty for one ; but 

 the doura sometimes much exceeds this ratio, 

 yielding in the highlands 140, and in the Te- ^ 

 hama, or plain, from 200 to 400. By their ^ ^^i^^trxs 

 mode of sowing and watering this grain, the Jj.-'^^ ^iT^ 

 inhabitants of Tehama reap three successive ^^^^^''^ 

 crops from the same field in the same year. 

 The plough [fig. 113.) is simple, and the pick is used instead of the spade. 



