178 



THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO. 



pulpy, and not so juicy and rich as the lighter 

 colors. .There are a few however of a wine color, 

 long and tapering, (sometimes over an inch in 

 length,) that are nearly if not quite equal in 

 richness to the white. These we call the 

 " Ladies' fingers." 



We have ripe grapes here from about the 

 first of July until late in October — and 

 they can be bought at about one dollar per 

 hundred pounds. Very little wine is made 

 here, as the Moors are prohibited, by their 

 religion, from making, vending, or using, any 

 kind of spirituous or vinous liquors. The 

 Jews, however, who are not allowed, by their 

 creed, to drink any wine or spirits manufac- 

 tured by Christians, make their own wine, 

 ■which is but poor stuff, and also a kind of li- 

 quor, called aguadienle, upon which they con- 

 trive to make themselves merry, all " accord- 

 ing to the laws of Moses," of course ! 



The vine flourishes upon nearly all kinds of 

 soil. Many of the vineyards in this vicinity 

 are upon pure, dry, light sand hanks, which 

 have been blown up from the sea-shore. The 

 leaves begin to fall in August, while the fruit 

 is still ripening ; and late in winter, before 

 the vines start, they are trimmed, all the la- 

 teral shoots cut ofi", and nothing but the main 

 branches left. Some of the more indolent of 

 the natives turn in their calves, donkeys, &c., 

 and let them browse off the superfluous 

 branches — quite a labor-saving operation, as 

 they think I 



Although the vines grow thus well upon 

 barren soils, I took pains to manure my little 

 vineyard, and I think I had an increase both 

 in the quantity and quality of my fruit. The 

 vines are usually left to run upon the ground, 

 excepting when they are used to cover arbors, 

 trellised walks, &c. 



The Olive is produced here in abundance. 

 The wild olive tree may be found scattered 

 over all the country ; but they are but little 

 cultivated along this part of the sea-coast. In 



the interior they flourish, and large quantities 

 of oil are made for exportation, beyond what 

 is consumed in the country. The green olives, 

 preserved in spirits, make a very pleasant and 

 palatable kind of conserve. 



The Pomegranate. — This tree, with its 

 rich crimson ornamental blossoms, and its 

 beautiful fruit, is to be found in almost every 

 garden. The trees grow as large as the larg- 

 er sized plum tree in the States. The plea- 

 sant acid of the fruit is relished by many peo- 

 ple ; but it is rather too " seedy " to be a ge- 

 neral favorite. 



The Almond is produced to a considera- 

 ble extent, and quantities are raised for ex- 

 portation. Those raised in the Reef provin- 

 ces are the finest I have observed, and I think 

 I have never seen better. Few are produced 

 in the region of Tangier. 



The hardy fimits do not flourish as well in 

 this climate as do those of the tropics. Among 

 those that succeed best, is 



The Pear. — This tree grows to a large 

 size, but as it is never trimmed by the Moors, 

 it has none of the tall, elegant, pyramidal, or 

 lofty spiral shape which that tree assumes in 

 America ; but, on the contrary, it throws out 

 its long, teeming branches from near the foot 

 of the tree, to a great distance, in an almost 

 horizontal direction. From a large pear tree 

 in our garden, we cut a branch twenty-five feet 

 long, which sprang out of the main trunk 

 within four feet of the ground, and extended 

 in a direct horizontal line, so that its lateral 

 boughs almost swept the ground, and alto- 

 gether it covered a space of nearly fifty feet 

 in diameter. The Moors thought me beside 

 myself on seeing the cutting and slashing I 

 made among the superfluous branches of the 

 various trees of the Moorish garden I had 

 bought. But they soon saw, by the increased 

 size and quantity, and the improved quality 

 of my fruit, that there was some "method in 

 my madness," and some reason in ray philos- 



