Page 46 - Arabian Studies (II)

36 Arabian Studies II
age with boys was said to be over fifteen years, that of girls was fixed
by the informants at fifteen years. In pre-monctary times the
bride-price (eher or qdn) was about 10—20 head of cattle, but
generally today a sum of SMT500—1000 has to be paid. The
wedding-ceremony (qilint) takes place in the settlement of the
bride’s father. For the young couple the father of the bride, with the
help of some male relatives, builds a special hut (‘ijah ghenis or
mula'\ where they live for about one year. The marital residential
pattern is matri-patrilocal. The expenses of the feast (dlfah) are
completely met by the bridegroom’s family and it lasts about two
days. The couple is restricted for a week to the wedding-hut. This
period is called eslibo ah.
In a manner corresponding with their neighbour tribes, we found
among the Qara the ‘inwa called 'intdq. This 7mvc7-practice is the
obligation to pay the bride-price to the husband or father, if during
greeting a man strongly grasps the hand of a woman or a girl — a
gesture through which he expresses his wish for sexual intercourse.
He is only bound to pay the bride-price if the woman or girl
objects.4
The dead are buried in a cemetery of the settlement. On the first
and on the second night after the funeral, a bull for a man, or a goat
for a woman is usually slaughtered as a sacrifice. The first is called
nihilt, the latter serede afor. The meal partaken of at the funeral is
named nakhairet. The period of mourning is generally limited to one
day, but a widow must observe it for three days, during which she is
forbidden to leave her hut and to cook.
Economic Life. The Qara use the following seasonal divisions:
qedh or qodh = summer, khorf = autumn, seti = winter and
serb = spring-time. In the latter we notice an interesting survival of a
pre-Islamic calendar-system. The name serb is obviously identical
with surab, which is even used in the present-day Yemen for one
harvest-season.5
Agriculture, with the breeding of cattle and goats, forms the basis
of their economic life. The agriculture (zer'at) is dependent on the
rainfall only; the Fields watered with rain are called mishfin or sribeh
and prepared with the hoe (Jas). They make no use of the plough
(harth), which is to be found only in the coastal areas in Zufar. The
sowing-season falls in khorf, the harvest season in serb.
The plants cultivated are relatively numerous: wheat (hibb), millet
(dhurah), maize (muhindo), sweet-potatoes (qandel), several kinds of
beans (diqer, munj, lublyeh) and melon (battikh).
Further agricultural implements besides the hoe are the harvest-
knife (mizdreb), which is a type called sharim in Southern Arabia,6