44 THE PALMS OF EUROPE AND AFRICA. 



the psalmist gives of the servants of God, when 

 comparing them with this noble tree ; and very 

 appropriate is the simile — 



" Laden with fi uits of age, tliry show 

 The Lord is lioly, just, and line." 



" Other trees," says good IMalthew Henry, 

 " when ihey are old, leave off bearing ; but in 

 God's trees the strength of grace does not fail 

 with the strength of nature. The last days ot 

 the saints are sometimes their best days, and 

 their last work their best work." 



The fruit is produced in clusters, which grow 

 from the trunk of the tree between the leaves. 

 In a good tree and productive season, there may 

 be from fifteen to twenty of these clusters, each 

 weighing about as many pounds ; but tliis 

 differs with diHering circumstances and in dif- 

 ferent varieties, of which there are many. The 

 same variation extends to the size and quality 

 of the fruit itself. Almost every district, in- 

 deed, has its own variety, which grows nowhere 

 else. Burckhardt was informed tliat upwards of 

 one hundred sorts grew in the iunnediate neigh- 

 bourhood of jMedina ; and a native historian, 

 in his description of that city, has enumerated 

 one hundred and thirty. Tlie cheapest and most 

 common kinds are called the jchclc, the haloua, 

 and the JiclcTja, a very small date, not larger 



