Page 205 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Five

their salaries was used for repairs on the falaj. In the Buraimi oasis,
for instance, a masha of two Rupees for three hours in the sum mer
and one Rupee in the winter was paid by the owners of dale gardens
in Mu'lirid, al Qatlarah, JImi and I-Iili, until the municipality took
over the maintenance of all aflaj in the territory of the oasis controlled
by Abu Dhabi.20 The work of 'arif required not only a conscientious
person but also someone who could determine very accurately when
to divert the flow from one channel to another, using a sundial by day
and the movement of the stars by night.30
Some date gardens in the wadis and in the vicinity of the
mountains are irrigated exclusively from wells, but in general a well
in a date garden is used to supplement the supply of water during the
periods between falaj irrigation. Oxen were usually used to draw
water from these wells but in some cases even agricultural well-
water was hoisted manually.
In /a/a/-irrigated gardens a few other fruit trees grew among the
date palms. Citrus trees, (oranges, lemons and limes) were the most
common; but mangoes, figs, mulberries, bananas, and pomegranates
seemed to do well in among the date trees; grapes were sometimes
grown over vertical trellises. Underneath the trees the soil produced
some seasonal crops, the most important of which was lucerne,
producing several crops per year and, if irrigated every three to five
days, continuing to grow through the summer. Water-melons, sweet
potatoes, beans, garlic and onions used to be the only other crops
obtained from the date gardens until the introduction of other
vegetables to the daily diet induced the oasis farmers to plant
tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and other vegetables during the winter
months. Pulse, cotton, wheat and barley grown in the spring and
juwari and millet sown in autumn were the principal crops obtained
from fields outside the date gardens.31 This description is applicable
throughout the oases of the Trucial States, regardless of whether
they are situated on the coastal plains or in the interior.

Desert gardens
The date gardens in the Llwa and in other locations in the desert
grew without falaj irrigation and with little irrigation from wells.
There only the newly-planted date palms were watered regularly,
usually by the owner carrying bags full of water from the well to the
plant. The roots of date trees raised without irrigation tend to grow
vertically rather than spreading laterally. They soon reach the water
table, which is not very far down in the Llwa hollows and various

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