Although the ground between the ruins is so thickly strewn with loose stones as to render walking a difficult and painful operation, it was during our visit covered with crops of wheat and barley. It is difficult to understand how any plough could be got to work under such circumstances. There was, of course, no attempt to clear away any of the stones; that would be too much to expect from an Arab husbandman. Perhaps from their point of view they are right; land is so abundant and population so scanty, that it pays them better to sow two acres in a superficial manner than to cultivate one with greater care and thus produce heavier crops.
FOOTNOTES:
[174]Guérin, i. pp. 396, 418.
[175]Morcelli, i. p. 209.
[176]Guérin, i. p. 409.
[177]Davis, Ruined Cities, i. p. 79.
[178]Guérin, i. p. 409.
[179]Temple, App. No. 137.
[180]Guérin, i. p. 409.
[181]Temple, ii. p. 341.