4 * 2
COMMS-RCJS.
Climate- and
Seafo>s.
inferior kind o f frankincenfe, ffenna, ivory, and gold from Abyffin'ia.
T h e European imports were iron, fteel, <annons, Iead^> ?tin^ edehitteifl,
mirrors, knives, fibres, cut glafs, and falfe pearls. Niebuhr regards
aloes and frankincenfe, (th e latter chiefly from Hadramaut, which borders
eaftward on Omon, and muft alio be included in Arabia ffelfet,)-as
th e only native articles o f coinmerce before coflee came into u f e ‘*
C H A P T E R II.
Climate and Seafons.— Face ó f the Country.— Soil and Agriculture*— Rivers. —
Mountains.— Deferts.— Botany.—• Zoology— Mineralogy*— Natural Guriofities.
— IJles.
iN the mountains o f Yemen there is a regular--rainy feaïon, from’pit:
middle o f J u n e to the end ©f September ^ but even then the iky is
rarely covered w ith clouds for twenty-four hours -at a time; and d a tin g
the remainder o f th e year a cloud is fcarcely to be feen./ At Maikat,
and in the eaftem mountains, th é rainy feaion expends from the middle
o f November, to the middle o f February; and In Omon there is r^tin
from the middle o f February to the middle o f April. In the .plajris of
Yemen rain is fomedmes unknown fo r a whole y e a r : and, in July,i|rsd
Auguft the thermometer will be 98°, while at Sana in the mountains
it is 85°. It fometimes, though rarely, freezes at- Sana* w hile atXaofleia
the thermometer is 8 6 ° .‘ Hence the inhabitants o f Yemen live -as if
they belonged to different climates: and even at a fmall d ife n e e fe e
found fruits and animals which-might indicate remote countries. .Thofe
meteors called falling ftars are common, as in Perfla: .but the Aurora
borealis is unknown in the fouthern countries o f Alia. In general the
wind from the fea is moift, that from the interior defarts dry : and in
** P. 245. ‘ lb. p. 4.
the
the northern defarts are chiefly perceived the difaftrous effens o f the* Cn
Horning wind calfed Samiel. , ‘ u f \ ^ fljj'
< Thes general afpe<& of Arabiatprefents a central defart o f great extent,,. Face c
with a few fertile oafes or. ifle-s, as- in Africa; while dm .flourifhing pro-f Count
vkiees- are -thofe Tituated on. the dhotes of the- lèa, which fUpplies rain
lufficient to-maintain tfee-lvegetat-ion. In Yemen there are mountains of-
c&nfidfer-able height, but'chiefly barren and'unwooded; while-the'tem-,
perattme and: plaats, as has been feen, form adtriking contrail: with thofe
o f theiplains t* y fe thé wamt ©f rivers, lakes, and perennial ftr earns, mulb
diffufe ideas of fterility through the -Arabian fendfcape.
T h e UatUfe of^he f e i l has hot'been indicated'; but agriculture is oc- Soffai
cupied in th e production-of- beautiful wheat, maize, durra a kind o f Agllc
fifflftïy bariéy, beans, fe a tlsy rape ; with the fügaa? G®ne; febaêcö, and
cotton» Riee feems unknown in Yemen, and oats throughout Arabia,
lhevKorfès bei«g;fed with barley, and- the! afles with beans; There are
^Ifè htttivated te a r s y a plant which dyes yellow, « id Is exported in great
quanrities from Mocha to Omon ; andf i c a , ufèd in dying red ; likewife
indigo. T h e grain in general yields- little more than ten for, p n e y b u t
the dtrrraf&methnes greatly exceeds that ftandard. T h e plough is Ample
; and th e pick is tried'inftead o f the fpade. T h e chief exertion o f
agricultural in d u ftry is to water the lands from the rivulets and wells,
df h y co d d u d in g th e rains. T h e harveft is to rn up by the rosjt^; and
forage' cut with the fickle.* Barley is reaped near Sana in the middle
of J u ly : b ut th e feafb-n depends on tlie.ituatiOn. At Malkat w h e a t
and barley are fown in December, and. feapediri March»
In the defeCtof rivers ft-riCtly belonginglto Arabia, the Euphrates-and Rivtn
Tigris,! which pals through Irak Arab!, have been claimed b'y-fome .geographers’;'
and the Euphrates may be aptly èo-rriidered as an Arabian
river. But'in Arabia Proper what are called-ri-vers are feere-torrents,,
which dèfcettd from the mountains during the
period afterwards. It has been feen that-the Aftan of'Neged, which in-
the map feems a cónfiderable river, is ©triy a brook-of this defeription.
The mpffc important-river is -probably that which rffes neat-Sana, and
joids the Indian fea below Harjiab, The fmaller ftreams of Yemen
, j I , may
M 1TH
|SP
if the
T*
ulture.