Amongst the Fellaheen of Upper Egypt. The Summer-Crop, EL QAIDY*).

From the agricultural life in Upper Egypt, I shall tell about the summer-crop, which is connected with the warmest season of the year — May, June, July and August. The summer-crop is therefore called in Arabic EL QAIDY, pronounced eggaidy and derived from qaid, that means, »summerheat«.

The cultivation of the summer-crop is not only a hot, but also a hard field work, because it takes place in the period of the lowest height of the Nile, so that all the water to the irrigation of the cultivated lands has to be drawn up from the underground by means of the water-wheel, in Arabic called El SÄQIJEH. One såqijeh can irrigate four to five feddåns, and a feddån is about 4200 square metres or somewhat more than 1 acre. All the poor amongst the Fellaheen charge themselves with this hard work, even in case of not being owners of any land. In that case they rent the land for the qaidyseason and cultivate, as a cooperative farming, this »foreign ground«, in Arabic called ARD MIN BARRA. As a rule, four partners make a contract for the cultivating of four feddåns.

Already six or seven weeks before the increasing summer-heat they start the preparations. First of all they have to collect marling, in Arabic SEBÄKH, from she ancient ruins or from the mountains near the border of the desert, and to transport the sebåkh to a place close to the feddåns, for instance near the såqijeh. The sebåkh is put into bags and carried the long way by donkeys. To avoid the burning sun in the middle of the day this transport of sebåkh takes place not only in the morning, but chiefly in the night in moonlight.

Further they have to make the long palm-ropes for the water-wheel

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1) A lecture delivered at Illrd International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences — Brussels 1948.

and to engage some potters, charging daily wages, to form the many water-jars to be tied to the vertical wheel of the saqijeh. And with the village's carpenter, EX XAGGÄR, they have to arrange the refittingof the wood-work of the water-wheel and his keeping it serviceableduring el qaidy.

To draw the saqijeh they need three camels or three oxen or three
pairs of cows, which take turns and change day and night after about
two hour's work. The time of changing is indicated in the day by a

primitive sun-dial called CALQEH, and in the night by the position of some wellknown stars, especially the position of the Great Beai and of the Pleiades. The driver behind the beasts at the saqijeh is a boy, called EL GÄZIR, whose monotone songs, praising Allah or the Prophet, constantlv fill the air.

After all these preparations the tillage of the field can begin

If some of the feddåns are much too dry and sun-burnt, the Pel laheen give them water from the saqijeh, and thereafter they prepare the soil by means of the plough, EL MEHARÄT, and of the mattock EL FÄS or EL TURÉJEH; then they plane the surface ground with the big wooden shovel, EL MASÜK, and divide the whole field intc

small basins, HOD, about 2 metres sqare and surrounded by low walls, DIRBÄS, made of the shoved mould and about 10 cm high and 20 cm broad. In some of these walls they arrange water-pipes, GEDAWWEL, and others of the walls are to be used as foot-path.

Then the Fellah cuts with his fas in every hod small holes, BORAH, about 15^—20 cm in diameter, and puts into every hole 4 or 5 seeds of Doorrah — sorghum vulgäre — and pushes with his foot some earth into the börah to cower the seeds, whereafter he leaves to the

young man, called EL HOWWIL, who leads and distributes the water from the såqijeh, to open the gedawwel and let the water fill up the höd. EL HOWWÄL understands to take advantage of the slightest difference in the level and thereby get the water distributed to all the basins. He is the man »at the head of the water«: QIDDÄM EL MÖYAH.

After 5 days the green sprouts are to be seen, and 10 days after

the seed the Fellåh gives the young plants the second water. The irrigation of the four feddåns takes nearly 10 days, and every tenth day the plants require water — and they get it, because the waterwheelis always working.

After still 10 days the Fellåh crushes with the fås the clods and hoes the earth round every plant and gives it the first sebåkh and the third water. This process is called EL LUGMEH ESSURAIJEREH = »the small bit«.

About a month after the first sebåkh the Fellåh repeats the same process and gives every plant the second sebåkh and thereafter the water. This process is called EL LUGMEH EL KEBfREH = »the big bit«.

From now on no more sebåkh, only water every tenth day, and
60 days after the second sebåkh the summer-crop el qaidy is ripe
for the harvest — and the song from the såqijeh dies out.

When the work of the såqijeh has finished, and if this long period of more than 100 days has been without accident for men, beasts and såqijeh, the partners have, the last night at the såqijeh, a solemn meal, EL KEFARIjEH, where they praise Allah, thank God for the gracious protection and ask for a rich yield of the summer-crop.

The dishes are various delicacies prepared of the finest flour and
milk, and cooked by steam, EL MOBAWAKHIjEH.

A few days after the kefarijeh, the reap of the doorrah goes on.

The doorrah to be reaped stands upon the ground like a tall lighted wax-candle, about 2 metres high; the stalk is like a bamboo and called BÖS. On the top of the bos sits the full doorrah-cluster like the flame of a candle and therefore also called EL QANDII.

Making use of the sickle with the toothed edge, EL MINGAL, the

men cut off the doorrah-stem near the ground an throw it aside in a heap. Boys and girls, charging as daily wages a basket full of qandils, cut the qandil from the bos and put it into a basket, the contents of the basket are put into bags and the filled bags are carried on donkeys to an open place, EL MUSTAH, where the qandils are spread out in order to be dried in the sun. A few days after, the doorrah can be thrashed by thrashing-sled or by oxen or by flails of lone palm-ribs.

When the doorrah has been thrashed, cleaned and collected in small heaps on the mustah, the solemn measuring of the summercropcan take place. To do that the partners choose a special man, EL ME^CABBER, who ought to be estimated as an honest, trustworthyand

worthyandpious person, so that he can do the measuring with »blessed« hands, BI BÄRAKEH. As a unit of measuring he uses the Egyptian meter, called KEHLEH, a wooden vessel holding about a third part of an English bushel.

The measuring takes place in the cool night and begins with the ceremonious meal called 'ASHEH EL MUSTAH, »the dinner of the thrashing-place«. Every one of the partners brings about 2Ü loaves, and having performed their prayer, they put a loaf into every one of the small doorrah-heaps to give blessing. Silent and with solemnity they sit down lor the dinner. One of them says: »In the name of God, oh, people of the grace«. He repeats these words twice more, and then the others give the answer: »Oh Lord, give us the food to-night, multiply for us the corn«. Then they eat the supper in silence; the dish is usually a soup of lentils, in Arabic CADAS.

After the meal the ME^CABBER begins his work. He has a string over his shoulder and under his arm, and for every hundred Kehleh, he ties a knot. Both the me^cabber and the assistants, who carry from him the measured corn and put it together in one heap, keep silence in order not to disturb the thoughts of the me^cabber. When all the corn has been measured, they push out one hundred kehleh to special payment and divide the rest into thirteen equal portions; such a portion is called RÄGIL and is »A man's part«.

The hundred kehleh shall be divided as follows:

Comment 1: He has at every summer-crop the opportunity to get
from every working såqijeh one kehleh as emolument.
Comment 2: If the flood comes bel'ore the work on the summercrop
has finished, so that the transport has to pass a
bridge over a trench, the owner of the bridge gets
one kehleh.

Comment 3: The feddåns have to be cleaned of all stubbles before

the flood comes, and 2 or 3 day-labourers do that
work puring 3 or 2 days.

The thirteen RÄGIL have to be divided as follows:

The wood-work has to be removed from the well and secured
before the flood comes, and sometimes the owner of the wood-work,
ELCEDDEH, is not the same as the owner of the well.

The quantity of a ragil depends upon the quality of the soil and may vary from 20 to 35 kehleh or more. For the transport of the doorrah from the thrashing-place the Feiiåh makes use of a woollen sack called NAQISEH (plur. NAQÄIS). Such a sack holds seven kehleh, and the result of the crop is always mentioned as so and so many naqåis, never as so and so many kehleh per rågil. Four naqåis, as a man's part is an average crop, 5 naqåis is a good crop, but 3 naqåis is considered as a poor result of more than 4 months' hard and hot work. Nevertheless, the hard-working Fellåh is a pious and modest man, contented with little, and he always thanks God for His grace.