Page 66 - Arabian Studies (I)

52 Arabian Studies l
made with milk, duff ['asld] 6 3 and such-likc things. [There is] a
plant which is brought from Abyssinia and its seed is abundant
there. M 6 4 My father said: ‘I ordered it to be planted, and as to its
grain it is like broad beans with their skin, and the taste of hazelnuts
and chestnuts that they cat for dessert — the smell of it used as
dessert is like all [other] dessert, but with a delicious taste, sweetness
and excellence to it. Also if it be toasted it is nice to eat. In a negro
language it is called II s b. U 6 5
‘As to the bulrush millet of this district in the Yemen and Najd
(the area E. of the Sarat of the Yemen) the ground, any suitable
ground, is ploughed for it, but it only does well in hot and temperate
districts, and as for cold (districts) it is not sown there.’
‘The way of sowing it,' as he said in Milk al-maldhah, 1 6 6 ‘is that
the ground is ploughed for it twice or thrice before sowing it and
the seed cast, three or four grains to every two paces, the seed-grain
being cast from below I 6 7 the ploughing gear, behind the plough, and
the earth turned back over it. Each time one casts three or four
grains one treads them down well with one’s foot so that they stick
in the ground and grow strong straight shoots. Ground to receive it is
not ploughed up unless it be dry of moisture, but at the time for
sowing it is sown while the ground holds moisture that will make the
grain sprout. It is sown in ground watered by running streams and in
that watered by rain-water, those lands watered by rain being best
when the autumn (kharlj) 1 6 8 rain comes to it (the bulrush millet).
When it is forty days old it is ploughed (kuJiifa) with oxen in such a
way as to bring the bottom of the furrow to the top and the top/
ridge of the furrow to the bottom, as one does with millet. Half a
month after kah//-ploughing it the field is ploughed lengthwise
between the tops/ridges of the furrows of the (standing) crop so that
it can absorb the rain169 and its crop be singled, though it is not
ploughed with a thorough-going application at the time when there is
dew for fear of (the leaf) turning yellow, but (only) when the sun has
played on it and the dew on it has dried away. When it has had rain
on it that will be enough for it, but if rain be scant and it is (watered)
by running streams, then it is watered by the stream when it has
received the final ploughing that follows the kah//-ploughing. The
time for sowing it is on the first of Haziran (14 June) and it stands
four months then is harvested. In Tihamah it is sown at the summer
sowing season (matnam al-saif) 1 70 on the twentieth of the month of
Aiyar (2 June) and is harvested after three months.
When it is wished to make parched grain (farlk) of it a fire is set to
blaze with a fierce flame and the (bulrush millet) ear parched over
the smoke-free flame of it. Once it is ready two of its stalks with
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