'35/149 I (A 67) Batineh date trade. Dowson's reports' [‎53r] (111/164)

Section of Mr Dowson^ report on the
ffauna ^lora,Geology etc., of the parts
of the Batinah visited by him in 1927•
Agriculture >
The principal industry of the literal and of the
interior is date growing* Wherever there be water,the datepalm is
grown, Itis the firs tstx crop to be cultivated! the others with the
possible exception of wheat and barley,follow and profit by the
Palais shade.
Labour .
Colonel Miles gives the following tribes as cult
ivators of dates-tBani Ali,Bani Bu Ali,Bani Battash,Al; Rabus,Al Raj-
riyin and Al Ibriyin.More often thannot the date gardens are the pro
perty ®f absentee lords. In the cases,they are generally not far ab
sent, since most of them live in the villages wMchform the oases
centres. In winter here also the cultivatots live,though in summer
they remain in the gardens. Many of the owners of Batanah date^
gardens live in Muscat or Matrah or in other of the larger coast towm
A big landlord is called Hahkari. Malak is not understood,but RAI'AL
Mai is frequently spoken of.The actual cultivation when not carried
out by the peasant proprietor,Bardhul,pi. Baradhil,a word also jpeanin^
♦a lazy fellow* is in the hands of a paid labourer, the Bidar,corres3&
ponding with the Jalah of the Iraq,enjoying less security of tenure
than that provided by the Taabah tenancy of that country,or the Mauri, '
of the iPunjab.In the Wadix Samayil every Bidar receives,at date harve
one bunch of dates from each palm irrespective of the number of bunch
borne. In the Batanah on the other hand he never receives dates but
nearly always money, some times money with food or with food and clothe
In both districts,fruit other than dates is the exclusive property of
the garden owner. There must be an immense amount of pilfering howeve
Jallen fruit is the tenants right.The provision ofoff shoots,fruit tr
and irrigating cattle and the food of the latter is on the owner.Luce
seedand thpt of wheatand barley are also provided by the owner who ta
foure»fifths of the crop from the former and nine-tenths of the crop o
the tifO latter# Millet is usually grown on the same terms as lucerne
but not invariably so.Truck and minotcrops are sown with the tenant's
seed and are his own property. The amount in cash which a Batanah Bid
receives,in the cases where no food and clothes are received is about
five Rialat a month. This was the comnionest figure given in reply to
questions.but an old man at Al -^il said he got fifty Rial a year and
two younger fellows with him said they each got forty Mial. A garden
near Rumais was looked after by a small boy and a jfcoung man* the forme
got f Rial a month plus food and the latter 2^ Rialat plus food.Kadhi
a merry and well spoken half negro half arab lad working in the garde
of Saiyid Muhammad got 4 Rialat a month in addition to food and cloth
but he seemed to be a favourite with the old man.Food is generally
reckoned as being wotth f Rial a week. If then the average wage for a
Batanah Bidar be only 60 Rial a year as the other emoliments are the
same as those of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Samayil.,it might be supposed that 60 Rial
is the value of one bunch of dates from every palm in the average
holding of a ^amayil Bidat. If one bunch per palm be equivalent with
one-eigth of the crop,the total crop would be worth on this basis 480
Rial ."With dates at 50 Rial a Bahar,the total production wojild be a
little less than 10 Bahar # or 16,320 Ib.This amount of dates might be
produced on 163. palms or about 3 acres of garden. Actually all the Ba - ;
anah tenants appear to prefer to be paid as in the Saii5ril,so it may I
presumed that the rate of pay ia higher there and that the area of a
Samayil holding is greater than suggested above. Thatbthis presumptic
is correct is borne out by the other,rough observations,which indical
that the Samayil holding is nearer 4 or 5 acres than 3. In the Batana
however the area is nearer 2.1n the latter district,the tenant has tc
raise all the irrigation water from wellsiln the former,the water is