Page 59 - Arabian Studies (I)

The Cultivation of Cereals in Mediaeval Yemen 45

nature of suit. The ‘Iraqis, al-BaghawT1 02 and al-Qadl Husain, say:
“It is a grain resembling wheat in colour and softness, but resembling
barley in its cold nature [tab1],103 and the one tastes the same as
the other.” To this al-ShafiT testifies in al-Umm,104 as does
al-Buwaitl,1 0 5 but al-Saidalanl, al-Furanl and others take a contrary
view to his, saying: “It has the appearance of barley though its
nature is hot like wheat, but it has no husk.” Al-NawawT1 06 said:
“The sound, indeed the correct view is what the ‘Iraqis say, and what
the generality of people [i.e. scholars] have resolved, it being what
the lexicographers remark. So then there are three views on the matter,
the soundest, which is also the deposition of al-ShafiT according to
al-Buwaitl and al-Umm, being that it is an independent species (asl)
in itself, but it has been lumped together with others. The second is
that it is lumped together with wheat because it supplies its place,
and the third (view) is (that it is lumped together) with barley
because it is a sort of it.” Al-Qadl Husain said: “Nay indeed, it is
ordinary barley.” This positive view was also taken by the shaikh
Abu Muhammad, and Abu ‘Alf in al-ldah, and by al-Mawardf in
al-Ahkam al-sultamyah. M 0 7
4. The fourth species is millet (dhurah). I 0 8
He said, God rest him, in al-Ishdrah: ‘It is specially [common] in the
land of the Yemen, and the bulk of what is sown in Tihamah consists
of it, though there is less in the mountains. Its origin is from the land
of the Blacks [al-Sudan], and it has [several] varieties. That variety
of it which is sown in the mountains is Rais!,1 09 an intensely white
grain with widely spread out heads. In the mountains the proper time
for sowing it is in the ten chosen days1 1 0 of NIsan/Naisan,111 and
the places for sowing it are the temperate districts and the valleys
near the heat.’ In the Writing [Khatt] of my father,1 12 God rest him,
he says: ‘In the year 737 H./1336-7 A.D. I saw in al-Husain district a
yellow millet stalk upon which were forty-three heads, apart from
those beginning to burst out of their covers, about to come out.’ He
said (also): ‘And, in the year 740 H./1339-40 A.D. I saw a stalk at
al-H w 1I/J w II113 of the lands of al-Janad thirteen cubits high.’
There is a variety of it (millet) called Shuraihf with a harder grain
than the two former varieties, between white and yellow in colour.
The places where it is sown are in the mountainous districts — in
those that are temperate and nearer the cold. The time for sowing it
is the same as that of the two former varieties, and it is harvested
after full seven months, its heads being smaller than those of the
yellow (variety) and its grains overlaying one another in the head
because of their abundance. From the land of Abyssinia sometimes