DATE VARIETIES 291 



slightly nearer base, thence tapering slowly to rounded 

 or bluntly pointed apex and flattened or depressed 

 base. Color when fully dried is Indian chestnut 

 red overspread by a thick bluish bloom, but skin is 

 much raised in big folds and blisters which give a 

 prevailingly hazel color to the date. Flesh three- 

 sixteenths to one-fourth inch thick, deep golden 

 brown, firm and nearly dry but not hard or brittle; 

 white with some soft fibre toward center. Seed 

 one inch long, three-eighths inch wide, stout, rounded 

 at base, bluntly pointed at apex, cinnamon to ashy 

 gray in color, ventral channel deep and partly closed, 

 germ pore noticeably nearer base than apex; loose 

 in cavity. Flavor sweet, nutty and delicate, no 

 astringency; does not deteriorate even if kept for a 

 year or more. 



Timjuhart, Tinjuhart, Timdjouert, a common 

 variety in the Mzab of Algeria,* which has done 

 well in the United States. It is a soft date of average 

 size and good flavor, which packs and keeps partic- 

 ularly well. When fresh it is bright red and so full of 

 syrup that it drips. The cured date may be de- 

 scribed as follows: 



One and three-fourths inch long, three-fourths 

 inch broad, wadest at middle or slightly nearer base, 

 thence tapering slightly to bluntly pointed apex and 

 flattened base. Dark chestnut to purphsh maroon 

 in color. Skin thin and tender, adhering closely 

 to flesh, sometimes profusely marked with short, 



*The Mzab or Oued Mzab is a long string of oases, running 

 north and south, in the Sahara of Algeria; it contains little more than 

 200,000 palms, but has an unusually large proportion of good varieties. 

 Its inhabitants, the Mzabites, are not of Arab stock or language, 

 but are a Berber or proto-semitic race, akin to the ancient Egyptians. 



