Page 42 - Arabian Studies (I)

28 Arabian Studies l

going as far back as 1947, but the best source for the type of work
carried out up to 1967 is Dr A. M. A. Maktari’s1 1 study of irrigation.
1 am informed that insofar as further development has taken place
since 1967 it follows the general schemes laid down by the British. In
the Yemen external organisations had already begun to interest
themselves in agricultural development in the latter days of Imam
Ahmad.12 The United Nations Development Programme has been
active of more recent years and a number of F.A.O. reports were put
at my disposal through the kindness of Annika Bornstein. Though
these reports arc informative where experts deal with their own
specialisation, since, obviously, they have no knowledge of Arabic,
they can be misleading. One such report, for example, makes the
bold assertion that 70 per cent of the land is owned by merchants
and nobles. I am highly sceptical of the truth of so contentious a
statement, for the plain fact is that we know extremely little about
land tenure in the Yemen. In certain districts in South Arabia such as
Lahj/Lahej13 this may be nearly true, but so diversified is the terrain
that one cannot generalise. How much land is mortgaged under the
\ihdahXA form of contract in the ShafiT districts - and is this the
practice in Zaidf territory? Are the share-cropping contracts similar to
those in Hadramawt or Lahej or Jlzan,1 s and do they differ in
mountain land from the Tihamah? These and many other questions
require investigation. An indication of the complexity of land tenure
and water rights may be found in the U.N.D.P./F.A.O. Survey of the
agricultural potential of the Wadi Zabid,*6 the area to which the
Bughyah so frequently refers. IsmaTl al-Jabartl (ob. 806
H./1404 A.D.) 1 7 is credited with establishing there the water-law
followed at the present day.
For the Wadi Jlzan, nowadays in Saudi Arabia (but in the
mediaeval period part of the Rasulid domains), there are two
important F.A.O. reports — the C. 0. van der Plas18 study contains
invaluable sociological, linguistic and other data on what is probably
a typical Tihamah valley. The forthcoming report of the Sir William
Halcrow team of which Dr Maktari and I were members includes
Maktari’s study, ‘Land tenure and water rights’, with a useful
technical glossary — to say nothing of carefully worked-out agricul­
tural and physical surveys relevant to this present study, executed by
various experts in the team.
Agricultural Calendars and Almanacs
Muhammad Haidarah’s edition of his almanac for 1365 H./
1945—6 A.D. I have already translated,19 adding much additional
information about South Arabian calendars. Now also I have at my