360 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 



hififhlands of Yemen the comherd seats himself on a tree ; 

 in Tehama a sort of scaffold is raised, having a roof or awn- 

 incT spread over it. They are not, however, all equally care- 

 ful ; and Niebuhr remarks, that he passed fields between 

 Mofhak and Sanaa very irregularly sown, and overrun with 

 cockle-weeds. 



In Nejad reaping is performed with the sickle ; but in Ye- 

 men the ripe grain is pulled up by the roots ; the instrument 

 beincr only used in cutting grass or other forage for cattle. 

 Like the Indians, the Arabs have a simple method of sharp- 

 ening tliis implement by rubbing the blade with moistened 

 sand. In thrashing their com they have made no advance 

 beyond the ancient and patriarchal fashion of which we read 

 in the books of Moses. The sheaves are laid down on the 

 floor in a certain order, and over them eight or ten oxen, 

 fastened to an upright post in the centre, are driven, until the 

 grain is completely separated from the ear. The straw is 

 removed with pitchforks, and preserved as food for horses 

 and cattle. In Yemen this operation is performed by two 

 oxen dragging a large stone over the sheaves ; and in the 

 Hauran a heavy plank is used for the same purpose. Com 

 of all kinds is cleared from the chaff by being thrown up 

 against the wind with a shovel (the /an of the sacred writers), 

 and then passed through a sieve ; after which it is ready far 

 the process of grinding. 



Travellers have remarked a very great difference with 

 regard to the comparative increase of certain crops, and the 

 productive powers of the soil. In Oman, according to Nie- 

 buhr, wheat yields ten to one ; while in the best-cultivated 

 lands of Yemen it gives a return of fifty fold. In the vicin- 

 ity of Bussora and Bagdad the increase seldom exceeds 

 twenty to one ; at Mosul it varies from ten to fifteen ; and 

 in Diarbekir the ordinary wheat-crop produces from four to 

 fifteen fold. In the Hauran this grain yields in middling 

 years twenty-five, and in good seasons one hundred and 

 twenty fold ; while barley gives fifty, and in some instances 

 eighty fold. But the corn of those districts which are watered 

 solely from the clouds is of better quality, and produces more 

 flour than what is grown on fields irrigated by artificial 

 means : hence a return of fifteen in Syria is reckoned more 

 than equivalent to twenty fold in Mesopotamia. A govern- 

 ment-tax of ten per cent on all grain is levied in Nejed ; 



