Many Spots Are Wholly Barren; And The Saline Nature Of
The Soil Prevents The Seed From Growing.
The ground towards the village
of Koba, and beyond it, in a south and east direction, is said to
Consist of good earth, without any saline mixture; and in value it is
consequently much higher than that near the town, which, after rains, I
have seen completely covered for several days with a saline crust,
partly deposited from the waters, and partly evaporated from the soil
itself, in the more elevated spots which the waters do not reach.
Most of the gardens and plantations belong to the people of the
[p.354] town; and the Arabs who cultivate them (called nowakhele) are
mostly farmers. The property of the gardens is either mulk or wakf; the
former, if they belong to an individual; the latter, if they belong to
the mosque, or any of the medreses or pious foundations, from which they
are farmed, at very long leases, by the people of Medina themselves, who
re-let them on shorter terms to the cultivators. They pay no duties
whatever. Not the smallest land-tax, or miri, is levied; an immunity
which, I believe, all the fertile oases of the Hedjaz enjoyed previous
to the invasion by the Wahabys: these, however, had no sooner taken
possession of the town, than they taxed the soil, according to their
established rule. The fields were assessed, not by their produce in
corn, but in dates, the number of date-trees in every field being
usually proportionate to the fertility of the soil, and also to its crop
of grain.
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