„ was copied in many other 



| oases where there was plenty 



| of water and it worked well 



* for centuries. 



•% Complications have arisen 



| since the thirteenth century, 



* and the ownership of water 

 ^ rights in an oasis today has 



become very tangled, so that 



* the owners of the gardens in 

 o the oasis of Tozeur do not 

 Pn themselves know the exact 

 g amount of water they are en- 

 ^ titled to, but leave it in the 

 ^ hands of their khammes, sort 

 £ of head gardeners and experts 

 g on the volume of water the 

 t£t gardens of their masters are 

 £j entitled to. 



0 Centuries ago the owner of 



g each garden had a right to let 



g the water from one of the 21 



D equal streams flow (irrigate) 



§ over his ground for a fixed pe- 



£> riod of time every month dur- 



1/5 ing the year, so many days or 



g so many nights, as the case 



p might be. Time went on, and 



9 the heads of the families died. 



£ Three or four sons inherited 



5$ the property and the garden 



w would be divided into smaller 



5 parts. 



w An Arab being badly in 



g need of funds and having 



6 more water than he actually 

 q needed for his garden would 

 g sell for a fixed sum the extra 

 ? water that he did not use. 



w The water rights became so 



Tin complicated that the long pe- 



0 riods of a night or a day were 



§ reduced to periods timed be- 



> tween the calls to prayer of 



(jr the muezzins. 



d These were again shortened 



^ to a period equal to five min- 



g utes. 



HOW THE PERIODS OE TIME ARE 

 MEASURED 



Instead of an hour-glass the 

 head gardener uses a primitive 

 native pottery bowl, or in cer- 

 tain oases a gourd, with a tiny 

 hole at the base. This imple- 

 ment takes just five minutes 



