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124 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 
At Adowa, and all the neighbourhood, they have three 
harvefts annually. Their firft feed time is in July and Au- 
guit; it is the principal one for wheat, which they then 
fow in the middle of the rains. In the fame feafon they 
fow tocuffo, teff, and barley. From the 20th of November 
they reap firft their barley, then their wheat, and laft of all 
| their teff. In room of thefe they fow immediately upon the 
fame ground, without any manure, barley, which they reap 
in February; and then often fow teff, but more fre- 
quently a kind of veitch, or pea, called Shimbra; thefe are 
cut down before the firft rains, which are in April. With 
all thefe advantages of triple harvefts, which coft no fallow- 
ing, weeding, manure, or other expenfive procefles, the far- _ 
mer in Abyffinia is always poor and miferable.. 
In Tigré it is a good harveft that produces nine after one; 
it fcarcely ever is known to produce ten; or more than 
three after one, for peas. The land, as in Egypt, is fet to the 
higheft bidder yearly; and like Egypt it receives an addi- 
tional value, depending on the quantity of rain that falls — 
and its fituation more or lefs favourable for leading water 
to it. ‘The landlord furnifhes the feed under condition to re- 
ceive half the produce; but I am told he is a very indul- 
gent mafter that does not take another quarter for the rifk ~ 
he has run; fo that the quantity that comes to the fhare of 
the hufbandman is not more than fufficient to afford fu- 
{tenance for his wretched family.. 
Tue foil is. white clay, mixed with fand, and has as good: 
appearance as any I have feen. 1lapprehend a deficiency of ~ 
the crop is not from the barrennefs of the foil, but from 
the immenfe quantity of field-rats and mice that over-run 
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