The Peasants Of Haouran Are Extremely Shy In Speaking Of The Produce Of
Their Land, From An Apprehension That The Stranger's Enquiries May Lead
To New Extortions.
I have reason to believe, however, that in middling
years wheat yields twenty-five fold; in some parts of the Haouran, this
year, the barley has yielded fifty-fold, and even in some instances
eighty.
A Sheikh, who formerly
[p.297]inhabited the small village of Boreika, on the southern borders
of the Ledja, assured me that from twenty Mouds of wheat-seed he once
obtained thirty Ghararas, or one hundred and twenty fold. Fields watered
by rain (the Arabs call them Boal, [Arabic]), yield more in proportion to
the seed sown, than those which are artificially watered; this is owing
to the seed being sown thinner in the former. The Haouran crops are
sometimes destroyed by mice [Arabic], though not so frequently as in the
neighbourhood of Homs and Hamah. Where abundance of water may be
conducted into the fields from neighbouring springs, the soil is again
sown, after the grain harvests, with vegetables, lentils, peas,
sesamums, &c.
The Fellahs who own Fedhans often cultivate one another's fields in
company: a Turk living in a Druse village often wishes to have a Druse
for his companion, to escape in some degree the vexations of the Druse
Sheikh. At the Druse Sheikhs, black slaves are frequently met with; but
the Turk and Christian proprietors cultivate their lands by hired native
labourers. Sometimes the labourer contracts with a townsman, and
receives from him oxen, ploughs, and seed.
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