AGRICULTURE. 359 



Yemen. At Sanaa, Niebuhr observed that the barley was 

 cut down on the 15th of July, while the inhabitants of the 

 neighbouring mountains were occupied in sowing their pulse 

 and lentils. In the plain of Beit el Fakih the dhourra was 

 seven feet high in the beginning of August ; and at the same 

 time the peasants in the valley of Zebid, distant only a very 

 short day's journey, were ploughing and watering their fields 

 for a second crop. Along the banks of the Euphrates barley 

 is cut early in May, and wheat about six weeks later. All 

 kinds of grain ripen at Bagdad twenty-four days sooner than 

 at Mosul. This singular diversity of season is nowhere more 

 remarkable than in the districts bordering on Syria. Burck- 

 hardt observed, that while the Hauran was everywhere cov- 

 ered with the richest verdure of wild herbage, every plant in 

 Wady Ghor was already dried up. To the north Gebel Sheik 

 was covered with snow ; to the east the fertile plains of 

 Jolan were clothed in the blossoms of spring ; while towards 

 the south the withered vegetation indicated the effect of a 

 tropical sun. 



The usual mode of sowing is with the hand : the seed is 

 then covered with the plough or with a large rake, and 

 watered every ten days, either by manual labour or with the 

 aid of a simple machine, called niakalah, placed over the 

 mouth of a well furnished with buckets, and wrought by 

 asses or oxen. The Arabs use a small quantity of seed : 

 they are disposed to trust in the bounty of Heaven and the 

 regularity of the seasons, rather than lose a superfluous par- 

 ticle. In some districts of Yemen, maize, dhourra, and 

 lentils are planted with the hand in furrows or drills : and 

 these crops Niebuhr represents as the finest and most luxu- 

 riant he had ever seen. As the planter went on he covered 

 the grain by pushing in the mould with his feet on both sides. 

 In other places he followed the ploughman, who in his turn 

 covered the seed by coming back upon the same furrow ; a 

 method which, though economical, must be exceedingly 

 troublesome. Noxious weeds are rooted out with the hand 

 while the corn is in the blade ; and sometimes this operation 

 is performed by a small plough, to which the oxen are so 

 yoked, that they pass between the rows v/ithout injuring the 

 plants, even when these are eight or ten inches high. For 

 preserving the young crops the peasants watch their fields by 

 turns, to drive away birds and granivorous animals. In the 



