Wheat And Barley Are Also Cultivated In Small Quantities.
The
Wady being well supplied with water, might easily be rendered more
productive than it now is; but the Hedjaz people are generally averse to
all manual labour.
Near the place where we alighted, runs a small
rivulet, coming from the eastward, about three
[p.293] feet broad, and two feet deep, and flowing in a subterranean
channel cased with stone, which is uncovered for a short space where the
caravans take their supply of water, which is much more tepid than that
of the Zemzem at Mekka, and is much better tasted. Close by are several
ruined Saracen buildings and a large khan; and here also, according to
Fasy, stood formerly a Mesdjed called El Fath. Among the date-groves are
some Arab huts belonging to the cultivators of the soil, chiefly of the
Lahyan tribe; the more wealthy of them belong to the tribe of the
Sherifs of Mekka, called Dwy Barakat, who live here like Bedouins, in
tents and huts. They have a few cattle; their cows, like all those of
the Hedjaz, are small, and have a hump on their shoulders. Wady Fatme is
also distinguished for its numerous henna-trees, with the odoriferous
flowers of which, reduced to powder, the people of the East dye the
palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, or the nails of both. The
henna of this valley is sold at Mekka to the hadjys in small red
leathern bags; and many of them carry some of it home, as a present to
their female relations.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 410 of 669
Words from 111846 to 112112
of 182297
