Sīla
This is a medium-sized village, known as the village of Jacob, peace be upon him[1]. It used to be a large city, and al-ʿIdwa, as well as all the villages in eastern Fayyum, were its hamlets (tuʿraf bi-hā). It is even said that there were 40 churches in it, which are now all deserted. But then it became a medium-sized village. Wheat, barley and broad beans are sown in it, and it has date palms and trunks of acacia. It is three hours’ ride from Madīnat al-Fayyūm, towards the east.
It is said that in the lands of this village there is a feddan known as ‘the feddan of the Prophet Jacob’, may peace be upon him, and this feddan yields 100 ardabbs. This feddan is unknown, but when it falls in a field (ghayṭ) through the division [of the village lands] (waqaʿa bi’l-qisma), the field yields more than 100 ardabbs, or something like it.
It is included in the iqṭāʿ of a group of iqṭāʿ-holders. It gets 12 qabḍas of water, allocated solely for winter crops, from al-Sharqiyya Canal, by plastered divisors shared with Shāna, Bayāḍ, Maqṭūl and al-Rubiyyāt. Its fiscal value is 6,200 army dinars. It has a Congregational mosque, in which the Friday prayers are held, and it is said that this is the Mosque of Jacob, peace be upon him. It also has a white neighbourhood mosque, standing on a tall mound. It has one church, and south of it there is a monastery known as Sīla Monastery. Its people are the Banū Zarʿa, a branch of the Banū Kilāb.
Its revenue in specie, collected in cash and kind, is 15 1/2 dinars; and in grains, 2,500 ardabbs:
wheat, 833 1/3 ardabbs;
barley, 1,666 2/3 ardabbs.
[The revenue] in detail:
lunar-calendar revenues, 8 dinars;
[permanent] pasture tax, 7 1/2 dinars;
Munājaza land-tax of grains, 2,500 ardabbs, as specified.
The fees, the measurement fee and the pasture fee are 570 1/2 1/4 1/8 dirhams, which are 13 1/2 1/4 1/48 dinars; and in grains, 122 1/2 1/3 1/16 ardabbs:
wheat, 39 ardabbs;
barley, 73 ardabbs;
broad beans, 10 1/2 1/3 1/16 ardabbs.
[The fees, the measurement fee and the pasture fee] in detail:
the fees, 252 1/2 1/8 dirhams; and in grains, 68 1/4 1/48 ardabbs:
wheat, 23 1/2 1/4 1/8 ardabbs;
barley, 33 1/2 ardabbs;
broad beans, 10 1/2 1/3 1/16 ardabbs.
[The fees] in detail:
supervision of endowments, 34 dirhams;
dredging fee, 90 dirhams;
harvest fee, 53 dirhams;
protection fee, 15 dirhams;
threshing-floor fee, 60 1/2 1/8 dirhams; and the grains.
the measurement fee, 54 1/2 1/8 ardabbs:
wheat, 15 1/8 ardabbs;
barley, 39 1/2 ardabbs.
The pasture fee on seasonal pasture lands, for 597 heads, 318 1/4 dirhams:
at the rate of 100 dirhams per 100 [heads], for 36 heads, 36 dirhams;
at the rate of 70 dirhams per 100 [heads], for 183 heads, 125 dirhams 1/2 1/4 1/8;
at the rate of 50 dirhams per 100 [heads], for 143 heads, 71 1/2 dirhams;
at the rate of 30 dirhams per 100 [heads], for 15 heads, 4 1/2 dirhams;
at the rate of 25 dirhams per 100 [heads], for 220 heads, 55 dirhams;
the government agents’ fee, 25 1/4 1/8 dirhams.
The alms-tax, for the monetary value of eight heads of livestock, 8 dinars:
cows, for a yearling calf, 1 1/8 dinar;
monetary value of small cattle, for seven heads, 6 1/2 1/4 1/8 dinars:
sheep, for six heads: 6 1/4 1/8 dinars;
goats, for one head: 1/2 dinar.
The poll-tax, for 10 individuals, 20 dinars:
those residing in it, for seven individuals, 14 dinars;
those absent from it, in the southern region, for three individuals, 6 dinars.
Hay, 2,500 bales.
The fee of the overseer of the canal, barley, 1/2 ardabb.
For the Ministry of Endowments, in specie, 17 dinars.
The seed advances customarily distributed in the locality, 318 ardabbs:
wheat, 130 ardabbs;
barley, 150 ardabbs;
broad beans, 38 ardabbs.
The established levy on the cultivators in kishk and farīk dishes, 3 ardabbs, half in each.
The allowances distributed in it, 4 feddans.
The chicken reared in it, 750 chickens:
for the prosperous Dīwān, including the rearing wage, which is a third, 450 birds;
for the iqṭāʿ-holders, 300.
The barley assigned for the royal stables and paid for in advance, 320 ardabbs.
[1] Modern location: Sīla (سيلة). Halm, Ägypten, p. 269: Saila; Ramzī, Al-Qāmūs, ii/iii, 101: Sīla.