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Forder was then called to share supper with the others, and afterwards the Chief led him out to the palm gardens, so that his evil influence should not make the beasts ill; half an hour later, fearing he would spoil the date-harvest by his presence, the Chief led him to a filthy tent where an old man lay with a disease so horrible that they had thrust him out of the village to die.
The date-harvest is here of the same importance as that of wheat in Europe, and its failure causes general distress. "What is the price of dates at Mekka or Medina?" is always the first question asked by a Bedouin who meets a passenger on the road.
It is esteemed a crime to fell a date tree or to supply an axe intended for that purpose, even though the tree may belong to an enemy. The date-harvest is expected with as much anxiety by the Arab in the oasis as the gathering in of the wheat and corn in temperate regions. If it were to fail, the Arabs would be in danger of famine. The blessings of the date-palm are without limit to the Arab.
The principal quarters of the suburbs are Haret el Ambarye, Haret el Wadjeha, Haret es' Sahh, Haret Abou Aysa, Haret Masr, Haret el Teyar, Haret Nefyse, Haret el Hamdye, Haret el Shahrye, Haret el Kheybarye, Haret el Djafar. Many people of the interior town have their summer houses in these quarters, where they pass a month in the date-harvest.
Here and there even a few cereals are extracted from the unwilling soil. At the time of our visit, in April, it was harvest-time, and the husbandman was busy gathering in his little store. The date-harvest, which constitutes the chief wealth of the district, does not take place till October.
The possession of fields and gardens is much desired; to be a land-owner is considered honorable; and the rents of the fields, if the date-harvest be good, is very considerable.
I have never seen a richer and more luxurious growth of palm-trees than in this place; they form so thick a wood, that it is difficult to find one's way through it. These plantations belong to the Bedouins of the peninsula, who come here with their families at the date-harvest.
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