ABSTRACT
THE presence or absence of water is the most important single factor in Arabian agriculture. Much of the country remains desert or steppe, fit only as grazing for the camels of the nomadic beduin, not because the soil is deficient in mineral salts but because water is lacking. In some places this has been overcome by irrigation (Pl" 34-37)·
I n the scattered oases of the deserts and steppes, date-palms occupy nit1(~-tenths of the agricultural land. In the Hadhramaut as a whole they are still the most important crop, but in the coastal areas of the Qu'aiti State the famous Hamumi tobacco is the principal product. A few coconuts are grown, as a garden-crop for rich owners, at Lahej and near the coast in the Qu'aiti State, principally for the 'milk' and for eating while the flesh is soft; farther east, in Dhufar, they grow more luxuriantly. The south-western highlands, with more regular rainfall, have an elaborate ancient system of terraced fields on the steep slopes, where coffee flourishes at altitudes between 4,000 and about 6,500 feet, and qat between 4,500 and 8,000 feet, while the broad stretches of highly cultivated land on the plateaux are ploughed and sown with wheat, barley, dhura (Sorghum), beans, and pulses, grown usually without irrigation.
