The Date. 289 



THE DATE ( ' Phcenix dactylifera). 



WE are indebted for the Date to another of the palm- 

 trees, one of the same general character as the coco-nut, 

 the stem rising to the height of sixty or eighty feet, and 

 supporting a vast crown of pinnate leaves, but in figure, 

 though still imposing, less graceful. Anything it may lack 

 in respect of beauty is more than compensated by the 

 value of the produce to mankind in countries where agri- 

 culture is impracticable, and where culinary vegetables 

 are the fewest and of the poorest kinds. Such are the 

 districts in that great portion of northern Africa which 

 includes the Sahara, reaching from the edge of the 

 Atlantic right away to Egypt : such, also, are the extreme 

 south-western parts of Asia. These, it is very evident, 

 from proof in the greatest variety, were the original seats 

 of the tree, the zone of indigenous growth lying between 

 19 and 30 N. South of the equator the date-palm 

 does not occur truly wild. It was conveyed at a very 

 early period into southern Europe; and in the Morea, 

 Italy, and Sicily it flowers freely, but the fruit seldom 

 becomes sufficiently saccharine to be worth eating. At 

 Elche, on the south-eastern coast of Spain, there is quite 

 a forest of date-palms, many miles in circumference, 

 but the fruit here is very different in substance, being 

 farinaceous instead of sugary. A few miles east of 

 Mentone, date-palms are also very plentiful, being culti- 

 vated for the sake of the " branches," in Italy so much 



2P 



