Page 86 - Arabian Studies (I)

72 A rabian Studies I

180. This name appears entirely corrupt and is unknown to KhazrajF and
other sources. Perhaps one should read al-Muzaihifah a well known village of the
W. Zabfd (cf. Sharjf, op. cit., 58). Al-Bustan might be al-Bustan al-SharqT
discussed supra in the section on Rasiilid gardens.
181. Cairo Ms., margin, states that al-Mihtar Ahmad was the maternal uncle
of the Rasiilid monarch al-Malik al-Mujahid. Generally mihtdr in the Yemen
today means jins da'Tf, which may loosely be translated as Mow class' though this
is not its exact meaning. Shihab al-Dfn is probably Ah. b. ‘Alf b. IsmaTl called
al-Naqqash (ob. 750 H./1349—50 A.D.) known to KhazrajF, op. cit., ii, 82.
182. Under the annals for 801 H./1398-9 A.D. KhazrajF, op. cit., ii, 300,
says: Mn the month of Rabf 1, rice was harvested (suriba) from the properties
(amlak) of the Sultan in the W. ZabFd.' Again, ii, 318, he says, incorrectly, that
the Sultan who died in 803 II./1400-01 A.D. was the first who planted rice in
W. ZabFd. This monarch also introduced (ahdath) the garden of Siryaqus al-AMa
of the same WadF. The Mukalla proverb which I think 1 have also heard
elsewhere, sMa kdn fi 'l-ruzz quwwah, wa-la fi ‘l-Hindr muruwwah. There is no
strength (good) in rice and no manliness in the Indian,’ expresses both the
recognition of the poor nutritive values of (polished) rice (as contrasted with
local cereals) and the Arab sentiment towards Indians!
183. Libro de agricultura, At. text 110 seq. This is a badly edited text, and
from line 2 from the foot of p. 110 the subject discussed is rice - though this is
not mentioned there, the text being confused at this point. It looks however as if
the actual text of Ibn Bassal available to the author of the Bughyah was also
confused since walls could hardly be necessary for rice-growing. Rice was already
growing in Spain by the mid-tenth century A.D. according to S. M. Imamuddin,
Economic history> of Spain, Dacca, 1963, 85.
184. Ibn Bassal reads Mn the plots’, and supplies additional data.
185. March and January, O.S. naturally.
186. Restored from Ibn Bassal.
187. Ibn Bassal, 111, reads for ‘this’ the word tana“um; which would imply
that the rice is diverted to turning soft rather than seeding.
188. Ibn Bassal omits ‘ripens’.
189. Translation conjectural.
190. It seems essential to restore this phrase from Ibn Bassal.
191. Kinib is HadramF pronunciation.
192. MM., 28b. ’
193. Cf. MM., 39b, to which al-Isharah here and in many other places is
closely similar.
194. Bughyah, 126b, states that madder has the ground ploughed up for it
up to twenty times, and it must be specially free of weed.
195. MM., 37a.
196. A man stands on the board to keep it flat and it is drawn by a bull
(thawr). This fills in the holes in the field by the sideways drag to the left and
right of it - normally this operation is carried out in a straight line (Q. IsmaTl).
196. At Jahanah QadF Isma'Fl pointed out this weed to me, but wabal grass is
common everywhere. It has long stringy roots like our Cambridgeshire twitch
grass. In fields it weakens the crop even if no nearer to it than a yard or more,