Chap. 9.] DATES. 175 



" syagri, 36 hold the highest rank, and next after them those 

 that are called " margarides." These last are short, white, 

 and round, and bear a stronger resemblance to grapes than to 

 dates ; for which reason it is that they have received their 

 name, in consequence of their close resemblance to " marga- 

 ritse," or pearls. It is said that there is only one tree that 

 bears them, and that in the locality known as Chora. 37 The 

 same is the case also with the tree that bears the syagri. We 

 have heard a wonderful story too, relative to this last tree, to 

 the effect that it dies and comes to life again in a similar 

 manner to the phoenix, which, it is generally thought, has 

 borrowed its name from the palm-tree, in consequence of this 

 peculiarity ; at the moment that I am writing this, that tree 

 is still bearing fruit. As for the fruit itself, it is large, hard, 

 and of a rough appearance, and differing in taste from all other 

 kinds, having a sort of wild flavour peculiar to itself, and 

 not unlike that of the flesh of the wild boar ; it^ is evidently 

 this circumstance from which it has derived its name of 

 " syagrus." 



In the fourth rank are the dates called " sandalides," from 

 their resemblance to a sandal in shape. It is stated, that on 

 the confines of ^Ethiopia there are but five of these trees at 

 the most, no less remarkable for the singular lusciousness of 

 their fruit, than for their extreme rarity. Next to these, the 

 dates known as " caryotse " 38 are the most esteemed, affording 

 not only plenty of nutriment, but a great abundance of juice ; 

 it is from these that the principal wines 39 are made in the 

 East ; these wines are apt to affect the head, a circumstance 

 from which the fruit derives its name. But if these trees are 

 remarkable for their abundance and fruitfulness, it is in Judaea 

 that they enjoy the greatest repute; not, indeed, throughout 

 the whole of that territory, but more particularly at Hiericus, 40 

 although those that grow at Archelais, Phaselis, and Livias, 

 vallies in the same territory, are highly esteemed. The more 



30 From the Greek avaypog, "a wild boar," as Pliny afterwards states ; 

 they being so called from their peculiar wild taste. 



3 7 See B. vi. c. 39. 



s8 Said to have been so called from the Greek Kaprj, " the head," and 

 iw^ia, " stupidity," owing to the heady nature of the wine extracted from 

 the fruit. 



19 See B. vi. c. 32, and B. xiv. c. 19. 



40 The Jericho of Scripture. 



