SECTION IV.
Siwah.
Si wan is a small independent state ; it acknowledges, indeed, the
grand Sultan paramount,''but it pays him no tribute. Round its
chief town called Siwah, are situated at one or two miles distance,
the villages of Scharkie, (in Siwahian dialect termed Agrmie,')
Msellem, Monachie, Sbocka, and Barischa. Siwah is built upon, and
round, a mass of rock I in which, according to tradition, the ancient
people had only caves for their habitation. Indeed the style of building
is such, that the actual houses might be taken for caves; they
are raised so close to each other, that many of the streets, even at
noon, are dark, and so intricate, that a stranger cannot find his
way into or out of the town, small as it is, without a guide. Many
of the houses built on the declivity of the rock, and especially those
terminating the descent towards the plain, are of more than ordinary
height, and their walls particularly thick and strong, so as to
form a circumvallation of defence to the town within.
The people of our caravan compared Siwah to a bee-hive, and
the comparison is suitable, whether regarding the general appearance
o f the eminence thus covered with buildings, the swarm of its
people crowded together, or the confused noise, or hum and buz
from its narrow passages and streets, and which reach the ear to a
considerable distance.
Round the foot of the eminence are erected stables for the
camels, horses, and asses, which could not ascend to, or could not
be accommodated in, thè town above.
The territory of S iw a h is of considerable extent ; * its principal
and most fruitful district is a well watered valley of about fifty
miles in Circuit, hemmed in by steep and barren rocks. Its soil is a
sandy loam, in some places rather poached or fenny; but, assisted by
no great industry of the natives, it produces com, oil, and vegetables
for the use of man or beast : its chief produce, however, consists in
dates, which, from their great quantity and excellent flavour, render
the place proverbial for fertility among the surrounding Arabs of the
Desert. Each inhabitant possesses one or more gardens, making
his relative wealth ; and these it is his whole business to water and
cultivate. A large garden yielding all such produce as is natural to
the country, is valued at the price of from four to six hundred imperial
dollaFs, there termed real-patuacks. The gardens round the
towns or villages, are fenced with walls from four to six feet high,
and sometimes with hedges ; they are watered by many small
streams of salt or sweet water, falling from the bordering rocks
and mountains, or issuing from springs rising in the plain itself,
and which, for the purposes of irrigation, being diverted into many*
small channels, expend themselves in the vale, and in no instance
flow beyond the limits of this people's territory. The dates produced
are preserved in public magazines, of which, the key is kept
by the Sheik : to thesè storehouses the dates are brought in basket's
closely rammed'down, and a register of each deposit is kept.
North-west of Siwah, there is a stratum of salt extending a full
mile, and near it salt is found on the surface, lying in clods or small
lumps. On this spot rise numerous springs, and frequently a spring
# Vide Note, Appendix, No. I.