Page 219 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

COMMUNICATION

Guarding Crops against am-sibntah in
North-West Yemen

Robert Wilson

In July 1976 I made a visit into the mountains overlooking Wadi
Mawr to the east of al-Mahabishah, spending two nights in the
small village of Zu‘ayl. This settlement is one day’s walk from
al-Mahabishah and about two hours from Wadi Mawr.
On my second evening there I happened to notice the lights of
people in the fields belonging to the nearby settlements of al-Mahil
and al-Qushfah. When I asked my hosts what was happening in
the fields at night-time I was informed that the inhabitants of those
villages were obliged to maintain a nightly watch in those fields,
situated in a small valley (shi(b), to prevent their crops being
damaged by am-sibntah, the porcupine. (The mini article is used in
this area. In $an‘a’ the animal is called shibnzah.)
The porcupines sleep by day in inaccessible caves and clefts,
coming out at night to eat the sorghum (dhurah) plants. Even after
the sorghum has been harvested at the end of the summer the
watches continue to protect the white beans (fa$uliyah bayfja*)
which are cultivated throughout the winter.
The owners of the fields co-operate in providing guards for them
and there is a rotation of duties, although I did not discover
whether this is a formal arrangement. I was informed that the need
to guard the crops has arisen since the end of the war in Yemen
(1962-69) because until that time natural predators, notably the
civet cat (?)(nimr, pi. namarah\ kept the porcupines in check, and
that in any case certain of the less accessible fields were not
cultivated because of the large numbers of baboons (ribafr) in the
region. These animals died of starvation or left the area during the
war.
are a considerable nuisance in the

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