AGRICULTURE. 401 



seasons may be remarked even within the narrow extent of 

 the province of 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 plough- 

 ing 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. Burckhardt 

 observed, that while the Hauran was every where covered 

 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 mahalah, 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 superflu- 

 ous particle. 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 

 luxuriant 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 plough- 

 man, who in his turn covered the seed by coming back 

 upon the same furrow ; a method which, though econo- 

 mical, 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 without 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 



