Page 314 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

XVIII.] TRAVELS IN OMAN. 277

west-north-west. They are usually of an ob­
long form, lying at right angles to the streams

by which they are supplied. Their size varies
from a circumference of seven or eight miles

to one, or even less. The singular and labo­
rious mode by which the natives convey
water to them, I have already noticed in my

account of the oases of Bedi’ah.
For the purpose of obtaining a better soil,

and facilitating irrigation, the Arabs have
removed the earth to the depth of six or
seven feet, and they flood the whole or any

part at pleasure. Some of these streams are
public property, others belong to individuals

or to companies. At a place called Om Ta'ief,
near to Maskat, the Imam constructed a
falj at a cost of forty thousand dollars;

but the water proved so brackish that they
were forced to abandon it. An estate in

North Oman, where these subterranean
rivulets are very scarce, derives its value

from its situation with regard to them. Some
of the minor rills are exhausted, or their

water is greatly diminished in the dry sea­
son, and the ground is then irrigated from
the main streams. At Nakh], near to