In Proceeding Up, It Grew Narrower, The Path Became
Steeper, And More Difficult For The Camels.
At the end of thirteen
hours, we came to level ground at its top, and there entered the valley
of Es' Szafra, close by the village of the same name, at which we
alighted.
January 23d. Our camels being tired, having found very little food on
the road, though they always had the whole morning to pasture, and
several of them threatening to break down, the drivers stopped here the
whole day. Like the before-mentioned Bedouin villages, Szafra is a
market-place for all the surrounding tribes: its houses are built on the
declivity of the mountain, and in the valley, which is narrow, leaving
scarcely room enough for the date-groves which line both sides of it. A
copious rivulet flows down the valley, the water of which is dispersed
among the date-trees, and irrigates some cultivated fields in the wider
parts of the windings of this valley. Wheat, dhourra, barley, and dokhen
are sown here; of vegetables the Badendjan, or egg-plant, Meloukhye
onions and radishes are cultivated; and vines, lemon, and banana-trees
abound. The soil is every where sandy, but rendered fertile by
irrigation: copious rains had fallen three days since in the mountains,
and a torrent twenty feet broad, and three or four feet deep, was still
flowing. The date-groves extend about four miles; they belong to the
inhabitants of Szafra, as well as of neighbouring Bedouins, who keep
some of their own people, or Arab labourers, employed in irrigating the
grounds, and repair hither themselves when
[p.307] the dates are ripe. The date-trees pass from one person to
another in the course of trade, and are sold by the single tree; the
price paid to a girl's father on marrying her, consists often in date-
trees. They all stand in deep sand, which is collected from the middle
parts of the valley, and heaped up round their root, and must be renewed
annually, as the torrents usually wash it away. Every small grove is
enclosed by a mud or stone wall; the cultivators inhabit several
hamlets, or insulated houses, scattered among the trees. The houses are
low, and generally have only two rooms, and there is a small court-yard
for the cattle. Several springs of running water, and many wells, are
found in the gardens; the principal rivulet has its source in a grove
close to the market; a small Mesdjed or mosque is built beside it, and
it is overshadowed by a few large wild chesnut-trees. I saw no others of
that species in the Hedjaz. Here, too, the water of the spring was
tepid, but in a less degree than at Rabegh and Kholeys.
The inhabitants of this valley, the name of which is celebrated in the
Hedjaz for the abundance of its dates, are of the Beni Salem tribe, the
most numerous branch of Harb, and, like most other tribes of the Hedjaz,
partly Bedouins and partly settled inhabitants; the latter remaining in
their houses and gardens the whole year round, though they dress and
live in the same manner as their brethren under tents.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 226 of 350
Words from 117461 to 117997
of 182297
