A quarter of this measure is the Arroba mayor of Spain (arroba = al-rūbá, the fourth), the Escandau of Marseilles = 3·54 gallons.
The half of the Arroba, or of the Escandau, corresponds to the Velte, 1·76 gallon at Paris, 1·73 gallon in Hanover, &c. It is the meeting point of Northern and Southern measures, which are derived quite separately from Al-Mamūn’s cubit, the former by weight, the latter by measure.
The measures of Portugal differ little from those of Spain. The corn-unit is the Fanga (Sp. fanega, Ar. faníqa, sack) = 12·17 gallons. There appears to have been a larger unit of 6 fangas, as the name of the Alqueire, 1/4 fanga, implies that this smaller unit was a qirát, 1/24 of a large measure = 6 fangas.
The alqueire varies in capacity. In Brazil it is our Imperial bushel.
In Spain the fanega is the usual seed-measure of land; it is = 1·6 acre (exactly the saumado seed-measure of Provence), though probably that amount of land requires fully 2 fanegas of seed-corn.
The cubed Black cubit appears also as a corn-measure, its original purpose.
| Original standard 34·73 gallons | = 4·34 | bushels |
| Rebekeh of Egypt | = 4·32 | „ |
| Cargo of Marseilles | = 4·26 | „ |
| Setier of Paris | = 4·29 | „ |
3. The cubed Black foot, = 10·292 gallons, passed with the Moors to Spain; it was the standard of the old Burgos fanega until the fifteenth century, when the present Avila standard prevailed.
4. The Ardeb of 4 cubed Black feet, 4 × 10·292 = 41·168 gallons, is represented by the Cairo Ardeb of the present time, = 40 gallons or 5 bushels, generally somewhat more. It is divided into 6 Wuebe, each of 4 Rūba or quarters, which are qiráts, 1/24 of the Ardeb. The standard of the Cairo Ardeb varies. It is sometimes put at as much as 5·44 bushels = 43·52 gallons. The official standard of the Ardeb of wheat is 297 lb., = 38·5 gallons at 60 lb. to the bushel.