Page 216 - Arabian Studies (II)

208 Arabian Studies II

over the last five or six years have made much of the ground too dry
for coffee cultivation.
From the qat market one may leave the suq close to the celebrated
prison of Hajjah, nicknamed al-Nafi‘, which held a number of
political prisoners in the time of Imam Ahmad.
At the western end of the market and furthest from the palace is
the meat market. There are about ten shops of which one specialises
in beef, selling pieces from a complete carcase, whilst the others sell
goat meat or smaller pieces of beef. The slaughtering-place
(madhbah) for the market is at the eastern end of the town about
three quarters of a mile away. Animals are bled facing towards
Mecca, skinned and then carried to the market.
The word regularly used for ‘meat’ is shirkah. The verb shrk is also
used to mean ‘to buy meat’. The reason given locally for this is that
the meat is ‘shared out’ amongst the people, or that the people
‘share’ in buying the meat. The word seems to originate from the
time before scales were used to weigh meat in the market. People
wishing to buy meat would agree together to buy a whole animal
which would then be divided up according to the amount each
individual had paid.6
From the meat market one can return to the main street by way
of the grain market. A number of varieties of grain can be bought
here. Grains may have different names, depending or whether they
come from the Tihamah or from Hajjah.

Standard name Probable Origin Local Name
Dhurah hamra (red) Hajjah mursallah, ‘awamT
Dhurah hamra Tihamah gharb
Dhurah safra (yellow) Hajjah 'addin' khasha'ah
Dhurah bay da (white) Hajjah falla/u
Dhurah (variety uncertain) Hajjah bujaydah
(a small grain-variety
uncertain) Tihamah wismT, shabb1
(sweet corn) Tihamah, Hajjah dhurah riimT, sham!

Also found in tfajjah grain suq are 'alas, dukhn and hilbah.

Supervision
There is some supervision of the market, but it is rather loosely
exercised. There is nominal inspection of sanitary conditions by an
official of the local health department, but little is done to keep the
market clean. Fortunately, the town is sufficiently high up to suffer