Page 204 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
P. 204

The Traditional Economics

          or mechanically pumped water wells made a dramatic expansion of
          the cultivated area possible.
            Whereas tunnels are characteristics of the a/ldj which serve oases
          in the plains such as Buraimi, Daid or Mazyad, and which are also an
          essential feature of all major villages in the mountain zone of central
          Oman, another type of falaj is in use in the upper reaches of the
          wadis. This type of falaj, also called ghayl, derives its water from the
          streams running through the gravel of the wadi beds, frequently just
          below the surface, which soak away to waste before reaching the
          area suitable for cultivation. By building a dam across the wadi some
          water is diverted into open channels either cut into the rock or
          cemented with mud. These channels flow down either of the wadi
          sides, sometimes crossing over through inverted siphons, and where
          the wadi bed falls with a sleeper gradient than is necessary to
          maintain a good flow of water in the ghayl. the latter forms a gallery
          rising relative to the wadi bed.28 Particularly in Shamailiyah, where
          many small settlements were actually in the wadis or very close to the
          foothills, the ghayl falaj was often the predominant if not the only
          source of water for the gardens as well as for domestic consumption.
            Wherever there is a falaj in the Trucial Slates it is used to irrigate
          more than one garden. Soon after a falaj enters the area of date
          plantations the open channel reaches a place where it is divided into
          several channels of equal width. Passing under the mud-brick walls
          which enclose the individual gardens, each channel carries water in a
          different direction and to other places for further division into
          shallow trenches. Usually a whole garden is completely flooded
          during irrigation; in some parts the earth is built up in little mounds a
          few inches high dividing portions within a walled date garden from
          one other.
            The water of a falaj is distributed by * lirafa’; every so often the 'arif
          on duty blocks one of the channels with a stone slab and opens up
          another one to let the water flow into the gardens belonging to
          someone else. In principle the water was shared equally between all
          the owners of date gardens near that falaj, all of whom contributed
          towards the cost of its upkeep by paying a fixed sum called mashd.
          But some partners who owned larger, or several gardens, and
          required more water to irrigate them could buy irrigation time for a
          fixed sum per hour because other people had only a small garden
          which was irrigated in a short time. All such payments were collected
          by the 'arT/, and what was left of it after he and his helpers were paid

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