'35/149 I (A 67) Batineh date trade. Dowson's reports' [‎58r] (121/164)

The oases of Oman are scattered along the beds
of the water courses.vsaterras noted above is smpplied from under-
ground channels leading from sources higher up in the feed of the wa ;
*?adi.How many oases are there in all Oman is difficult to conjecture
From the mouth of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. ^amayil at J^ib as fas as and including
Hub a distance of about 40 miles^there are about 20 oases,if the bi|
group of palms at Bamayil be considered as one# The smallest ones T
e»g# Miltaqah alHadariyah probably contain no more than 800 palmt j
KhaudhfPinjah, Bidbid, and i^arur probably contain about ^0000 palms
eaviu The remaing twelve cases may be put down at a guess at an avej
age of 5000 palms each, i'ht total palms In the valley a# iar as
and including Hub therefore may be estimated roughly as about 240,
000# For purpose of comparism it may be mentioned that the number
of date palms on the Iraqi portion of the banks of the Shatt al
Arah is about 7000000# How magy date palms there are between Hub am
(Jabal AkMhar is not known. It is probale thatbthey are less than
below Hub. But the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Samayil though it is certainly the richest
in palms of any of the Oaan widyan yet it is only one of the forty
such lying between Has Masandam and Kas al Hadd ,and most of those
probably contain somenpalms. It is hazardous to conjecture what is
the total population of Oman,excluding the coast but 1000000 is a
more or lessintelligent guess. If the coastal region be included
the number of palms Mght amount to 2,5000000 for date palms grow
along the Batanah in a continous belt from ^1 Mil to auhar.Only the
iirst twelve miles ol this belt beginning at -^1 J^il vere seen,but
sveral and reliable informants state that this portion is typical
of the whole. The average width of the palm belt was generally
put down at a mile. To allow for pardobable loisal pride half a mile ►
has been considered the width ^or the purpose calculation. The lensl lli
of the belt of 100 miles is verifiable fro^i the map.Thus the con
clusion appeats that the Bitanah date gardens cover 50 square miles#
contain probably the third biggest palmery in the world, Basrah \
and Tafililt being bigger.
, these necesseriily rough calculations,the
number of palms per acre is reckoned at oO.In the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. bamayil,the
palm are so big that if they were closer that 30 feet to each other
the fronfis of neighbouring palms would greatly intermingle.In the
Batanah the palms are less vigorous and in the gardens where there
aie no fruit tney are frequently at closer intervals. However in
consideration of the large number of fruit trees at the southern end
of the belt of the bare clearings amongst the palms and of the un»
S ult i Vated con<iitlon o? of the Tawian,50 bearing palms per acre
| or the whole area is probably not too low. The date gardens of the
Viadi Uamayil are reminiscent of south Morocco^ the rocky picturesque
scenery the white clothes and Immat the plastered irrigating channel
the underground streams and the Hush Malak. por ♦how do you do 1 are '
comion to both# And if the Samayili be like Morocco,then the Batanal
has points of resemblance with the Shattal ivrab district the long
continous strip of palms between water and a salty plain and the
petponderating influence of the date palm on the life of the people.
But then the sqeaking of the water hoists quickly reminds one he is-
xar from ifesrah ? s tidal irrigation.^here are picturesque thickets
of ^umar.Ghaf and other trees where palms are lost to view.One al-
most expects.fairies to appear. But the weather is probably too hot
tor them.vlho ever heard of a sweaty fairy.Perhaps though there are
j inu.
Cultivation .
; 0n a previous page the cultivation of a date <
garden has been noticed and the implements there for. It wq« stated
that one of the reasons cultivation was slight was the lightness
of the soil.Another is that weeds are few there being no water to
spare for tiiem.Qne labour the Qmani has,which the Iraqi has not is
the removal of surface stones.
• As in all places where date palms are grown !
commerc/lally in Uman they are grown from off shoots. The^ are planter
out when still quite small half the size usual in Iraq.Perhaps in