Chap. 9.] DATES. \7~ 



flour. 46 It grows upon a shrub, with branches a cubit in 

 length : it has a broad leaf, and the fruit is round, and larger 

 than an apple. The name of this date is " co'ix." 47 It conies 

 to maturity in three years, and there is always fruit to be 

 found upon the shrub, in various stages of maturity. The 

 date of Thebais is at once packed in casks, with all its natu- 

 ral heat and freshness ; for without this precaution, it quickly 

 becomes vapid ; it is of a poor, sickly taste, too, if it is not 

 exposed, before it is eaten, to the heat of an oven. 



The other kinds of dates appear to be of an ordinary nature, 

 and are generally known as "tragemata ;" 48 but in some parts of 

 Phoenicia and Cilicia, they are commonly called " balani," a 

 name which has been also borrowed by us. There are nume- 

 rous kinds of them, which differ from one another in being 

 round or oblong ; as also in colour, for some of them are black, 

 and others red — indeed it is said that they present no fewer 

 varieties of colour than the fig : the white ones, however, are 

 the most esteemed, They differ also in size, according to the 

 number which it requires to make a cubit in length ; some, 

 indeed, are no larger than a bean. Those are the best adapted 

 for keeping which are produced in salt and sandy soils, Judaea, 

 and Cyrenaica in Africa, for instance : those, however, of Egypt, 

 Cyprus, Syria, and Seleucia in Assyria, will not keep : hence 

 it is that they are much used for fattening swine and other 

 animals. It is a sign that the fruit is either spoilt or old, 

 when the white protuberance disappears, by which it has ad- 

 hered to the cluster. Some of the soldiers of Alexander's army 

 were choked by eating green dates ; 49 and a similar effect is 

 produced in the country of the Gedrosi, by the natural quality 

 of the fruit ; while in other places, again, the same results arise 

 from eating them to excess. Indeed, when in a fresh state, they 

 are so remarkably luscious, that there would be no end to 



46 From Theophrastus, B. i. c. 16. 



47 Kvkojq in the Greek. It is supposed by Sprengel to be the same as 

 the Cycas circimialis of Linngeus ; but, as Fee remarks, that is only found in 

 India. 



48 From the Greek, meaning "sweetmeats," or " dessert fruit :" he pro- 

 bably means that in S) 7 ria and some parts of Phoenicia they were thus called. 



49 This story, which is- borrowed from Theophrastus, B. iv. c. 5, is 

 doubted by Fee, who says that in the green state they are so hard and 

 nauseous, that it is next to impossible to eat sufficient to be materially in- 

 commoded by them. 



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