Page 315 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

278 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.

Burka, four hundred dollars were paid for a

supply of one hour every fifteen days, and,
as they have no watches, they have recourse

to the stars, with the precise time of the
rising and setting of some few of which they

are well acquainted.
Water, it is well known, in a tropical climate

gives an almost unlimited fertility to the
soil. In the oases it is always saturated with
moisture, and the leaves and other vegetable

matter, decaying almost as soon as they are

deposited, but little manure is required.
Much of the cultivation is carried on beneath
the trees, but open spaces are also left for

grain or sugar-cane, which require the sun’s
rays to ripen them. Wheat is sown in the

latter part of October, and reaped at the
commencement or middle of March. Where

they have the means of constant irrigation,
the ground produces one crop of wheat and

two of dhurrah. Barley is sown a month after
wheat. No rice is grown in Om&n; and so
far from any export of wheat existing, the

natives have not a sufficiency for their own
consumption, and import large quantities

from Persia and Macran. In the oases