Page 478 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

437
NAKAB EL HAJAR.
XXVI.]

though several of the villages had more than

one mosque, and three or four Sheikhs

tombs.

More attention appears to be paid within

this district to agricultural pursuits, than in

any other part of Arabia which I have hi­

therto seen. The fields are ploughed in

furrows, which for neatness and regularity

would not shame an English peasant. They

carefully free the soil from the few stones

strewn over it, and water the whole plenti­

fully morning and evening, from numerous

wells. The water is drawn up by camels,

(this is a most unusual circumstance, for

they are rarely used as draught animals in

any part of the East,) and distributed over

the face of the country along high embank­

ments. A considerable supply is also re­

tained within these wherever the stream fills

its bed. Trees and sometimes even houses are

then washed away, but any damage it does is

amply compensated by the mud deposited,

which, although of a lighter colour and of a

harder nature, is yet almost equally pro­

ductive with that left by the Nile in Egypt.

But beyond what I have noticed no other

niits or grain are grown.