THE PALMS OF EUROPE AND AFRICA. 47 



some beads for paternosters from tliem. The 

 chief use of date kernels is, however, as a nou- 

 rishing and acceptable food for camels, cows, 

 and sheep. For this purpose they are, in some 

 places, softened by being soaked for two or 

 three days in water, and in others they are 

 ground to powder for the same purpose. They 

 are said to be more nutritious than barley. In 

 I\Iedina, there are shops where nothing else is 

 sold but date stories, and, in all the main streets, 

 beggars are occupied in picking up those that 

 have been thrown away. 



A considerable number of the inhabitants of 

 Egypt, Persia, Arabia, the north of Africa, and 

 especially the wandering tribes of the Great 

 Desert, derive their support and subsistence 

 almost entirely from this fruit. The season of 

 gathering is, therefore, watched for with all the 

 anxiety, and attended with all the rejoicing of 

 the harvest in the middle, or of the vintage in 

 southern Europe. A failure of the crop, either 

 from the ravages of locusts, or the exhaustion 

 of the trees, which are seldom known to pro- 

 duce abundantly more than three or four years 

 in succession, causes general distress, and 

 spreads universal gloom over the inhabitants. 

 The fruit does not all ripen at the same time, 

 each variety having its particular season. The 



