1. For example, in 1735 the French consul in Sidon urged Zahir al-Umar to impose a uniform standard of weights for the Galilee (Cohen, Palestine, p. 14). [BACK]

2. Invariably, units of weights and measures appeared in local sources within the context of letters about taxes (NMSR, pp. 43, 50, 132; NICR, 11:18). [BACK]

3. Unless otherwise cited, the following is based on NIMR, 2:275–277. For a detailed survey of weights and measures used in Palestine as a whole, see Arraf, Al-Ard, pp. 224–229. [BACK]

4. NIMR, 2:275. [BACK]

5. Arraf, Al-Ard, p. 224. [BACK]

6. A qintar of Nablus soap was defined as equal to 225 uqqas in NMSR, p. 132; dated August 19, 1851. [BACK]

7. Arraf, Al-Ard, p. 226. [BACK]

8. Ibid. [BACK]

9. Walther Hinz, Al-Makayil wa al-awzan al-islamiyya wa ma yu‘adiluha fi al-nizam al-mitri (Islamic Weights and Measures and Their Metric Equivalent) (trans. Kamil al-Asali; Amman, 1970), pp. 72–73. [BACK]

10. NMSR, p. 43. [BACK]

11. Hinz, Al-Makayil, pp. 58–59. [BACK]

12. NMSR, p. 50; dated July 28, 1852. That same year, another customs document defined a jar of oil destined for soap making in the Jerusalem region as containing 13.5 uqqas (NMSR, p. 132; dated August 15, 1852). [BACK]

13. Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (ed. J. Milton Cowan; 3d ed.; New York, 1976), p. 1036. [BACK]

14. Arraf, Al-Ard, p. 226. [BACK]