46 THE PALMS OF EUROPE AND AFRICA. 



large boxes annually to Constantinople as pre- 

 sents, after having taken out the kernels and 

 put an nhuond in their place. -Dates that are 

 intended to be dried are not allowed to attain 

 their softest condition. Great quantities are 

 thus preserved, and are then very hard, and 

 have a shrunk and shrivelled appearance. 

 They are, in this state, of great service as a 

 standing article of food, and from their hardness 

 and portability are very valuable to persons on 

 a journey. Dates are dressed in a variety of 

 ways ; they are boiled, stewed with butter, or 

 reduced to a thick pulp by simmering in water, 

 over which honey is poured. It is a sa3ang with 

 the Arabs, that " a good house-wife may fur- 

 nish her husband every day for a month with 

 a dish of dates differently prepared." About 

 one thousand hundredweight of dates are said 

 to be annually imported into England, espe- 

 cially from Barbary. The Tafilat date is also 

 much esteemed among us. Dried dates are 

 sometimes made into a kind of flour, which fre- 

 quently forms the entire sustenance of the 

 caravans of the desert, and will keep for a 

 length of time if preserved from damp. The 

 date has an exceedingly hard and solid kernel, 

 which is sometimes used by tlie turner for 

 ornaments ; in Barbary, the natives form liand- 



