The inhabitant of the Haouran estimates his wealth by the number of Fedhans,[The word Fedhan is applied both to the yoke of oxen and to the quantity of land cultivated by them, which varies according to circumstances. In some parts of Syria, chiefly about Homs, the Fedhan el Roumy, or Greek Fedhan, is used, which means two pair of oxen.] or pairs of cows or oxen which he employs in the cultivation of his fields. If it is asked, whether such a one has piastres (Illou gheroush [ARABIC]), a common mode of speaking, the answer is, "A great deal; he drives six pair of oxen," (Kethiar bimashi sette fedhadhin [Arabic]); there are but few, however, who have six pair of oxen; a man with two or three is esteemed wealthy: and such a one has probably two camels, perhaps a mare, or at least a Gedish (a gelding), or a couple of asses: and forty or fifty sheep or goats. The fertility of the soil in the Haouran depends entirely upon the water applied to it. In districts where there is plenty of water for irrigation, the peasants sow winter and summer seeds; but where they have to depend entirely upon the rainy season [p.296]for a supply, nothing can be cultivated in summer. The harvest in the latter districts, therefore, is in proportion to the abundance of the winter rains. The first harvest is that of horse-beans [Arabic] at the end of April: of these there are vast tracts sown, the produce of which serve as food for the cows and sheep. Camels are fed with the flour made from these beans, mixed with barley meal, and made into a paste. Next comes the barley harvest, and towards the end of May, the wheat: in the interval between the two last, the peasants eat barley bread. In abundant years, wheat sells at fifty piastres the Gharara,[Three Rotola and a half make a Moud, and eighty Moud a Gharara. A Rotola is equal to about five and a halfpounds English.] or about two pounds ten shillings for fifteen cwt. English. In 1811, the Gharara rose as high as to one hundred and ninety piastres. The wheat of the Haouran is considered equal, if not superior to any other in Syria. Barley is generally not more than half the price of wheat. When I was in the Haouran, the price of an ox or cow was about seventy piastres, that of a camel about one hundred and fifty piastres. The lands which are not capable of artificial irrigation are generally suffered to lie fallow one year; a part of them is sometimes sown in spring with sesamum, cucumbers, melons, and pulse. But a large part of the fruit and vegetables consumed in the Haouran is brought from Damascus, or from the Arabs Menadhere, who cultivate gardens on the banks of the Sheriat el Mandhour.