ABSTRACT
Thewar.faJJisatimeunitoftwelvehours(sa'ah,pluralsuwa'), varyingalittleintimebetweensummerandwinter,therebeing fourteenwar.fa!Jsinaweek.Itisalsousedatsea(cf.my'Fisherfolk andfish-trapsinal-B~rain,'BSOAS,London,1968,XXXI,iii,513, quotingalocalalmanac).Ihaveincorrectlycalledita24-hour periodinal-Mukallain'Starcalendarsandanalmanacfromsouth Arabia,'Anthropos,(Freiburg,1954),438.TheseasonsinB~rainare ~ayf(24June),Kharif(25September),Shitii'(23December),Rabi' (22March).Thelengthoftimeduringwhichaplotmaybeirrigated iscalculatedinwar.fa'!Jsorfractionsthereof.Presumablythewar.fa/J isalsoequivalenttoacertainnumberofqadams(forwhichsee article2).Theimportantwaefa/J-periodisthatextendingfromdawn todusk(shuritqal-shamsiliighuritb-hii).Acultivatorwillreceive waterinaccordancewiththedocumentinhishands('/Jasbalwathiqah(al-mulk)ftyadi-hi),andhemayhaveanyoftheperiods ofwateringmentioned.
