14 DATE VARIETIES AND DATE CULTURE IN TUNIS. 



thing that once seen can never l)e forgotten. The great clusters of 

 fruit, disphiying every tint from bright yellow, through orange, 

 vermilion, and maroon, to plum purple and chestnut brown, with 

 Iheir brilliant yellow or rich orange ivory-like stalks, contrast su- 

 perbly with the dull bluish or gray green of the feathery crowns of 

 foliage. It is small wonder that a whole folklore of poetic legends 

 and proverbs has grown up around the date palm in the regions 

 where it flourishes." 



The oases, especially Nefta, were formerly much exposed to the 

 encroachment of the wind-bloAvn sand of the desert, but since the 

 French occupation the forestry service has taken effective measures 

 to protect them from this danger. Around each oasis, at a distance 

 from the edge of the gardens generally of 1,000 feet, although vary- 

 ing according to circumstances, a nnid wall, surmounted by a fence 

 of palm leaves, has been erected. The sand drifts against this, form- 

 ing an artificial dune sloping outward. As fast as this dune increases 

 in height, the palisade is built higher. The slopes of the dune 

 itself are planted with tamarisks, retam, and other desert shrubs 

 suitable for binding the sand. The zone between the palisade and the 

 gardens is strictly forbidden to the domestic animals that were 

 formerly pastured there, as they kept the soil in a loose condition 

 and prevented the growth of the natural vegetation that helps to hold 

 it in place. At the most exposed points a series of outer palisades, 

 erected at regular intervals, arrests a good part of the sand before it 

 can reach the barrier which is nearest the gardens. 



a A number of these legends and beliefs are related by Cbarlet (Les Palniiers 

 du Mzab, Bui. Soc. Geogr. d'Alger, 1905. Mohammed enjoined the care 

 of the date palm as an almost religious duty, saying, " The palm is your 

 aunt — the sister of your father Adam." He also spoke of the date as " the 

 only fruit which has in heaven the same flavor as upon earth," and described 

 in these glowing terms the palms that grow hi paradise : " Trunks of gold, 

 spathes of gold, branches of gold, leaves of gold, stalks of gold, petals of gold, 

 fruits as large as buckets, softer than butter, sweeter than honey." Another 

 Arab poet imagined thus the dates of paradise: "They will be whiter than 

 milk, more transparent than honey, softer than butter; they will have no 

 stones." The origin of the date palm is often the theme of Mohammedan 

 writers. " When God had shaped Adam's body with his hands, a little of the 

 earth which He had used to fashion in his image our first father stuck to his 

 fingers. He rolled it between his hands, making from it the trunk of the 

 palm." The Arabs profess to see many points of resemblance between the date 

 palm and man, its friend and ally. " Like man, it holds up its head ; like man, 

 it has a companion of a different sex. Its heart (terminal bud), immaculately 

 white, is as tender and delicate as the brain of a man, the least hfirt causing 

 its death. Like man, it fears cold. If one of its branches be cut off, it does 

 not grow out again, and thus is like a man's limb. If one cuts off its head, it 

 dies. The fiber (leef) that surrounds its head resembles human hair." The 

 little circle, about 1.5 millimeters in diameter, that is found on the back of the 

 stone is believed to be the impress of the seal of Solomon. 



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