Ohfervations &c. 225• 



ethinfull Vigour feventy Years longer, bearing yearly, all this 

 Time, fifteen or twenty Clufters of Dates, each of them fifteen 

 or twenty Pounds Weight, After this Period they begin gradu- 

 ally to moulder and pine away, ufually falling about the latter 

 End of their fecond Century. They require no other Culture 

 and Attendance, than to be well watered once in four or five 

 Days, and to have the lower Boughs plucked off, whenever they 

 begin to droop and wither. 



It is ufual with Perfons of better Faihion in this Country, r/.. h.»7 of 

 to entertain their Gueits upon a Marriage, at the Birth of axre?^"" 

 Child, or upon other extraordinary Occafions, with the Honey 

 (as they call It) of the Date Tree. This they procure by cut- 

 ting off the Head of one of the more vigorous Kinds and fcoup- 

 ing the Top of the Trunk into the Shape of a Bafon. When 

 the Sap afcends, it lodgeth in this Cavity, during the firft Week 

 or Fortnight, at the Rate of three Quarts or a Gallon a Day ; 

 after which the Quantity daily diminiiheth, and, at the End of 

 fix Weeks or two Months, the Juices are entirely confumed, the 

 Tree becomes dry, ferving only for Firewood orTimber. This Li- 

 quor, which hath a more lufcious Sweetnefs than Honey, is 

 of the Confiftence of a thin Syrop, but quickly groweth tart 

 and ropy, acquiring an intoxicating Quality, and giving by 

 Diftillation an agreeable Spirit, Steam, or u^rak^, according 

 to the general Name of thefe People for all hot and ilrong 

 Liquors, extracted by the ^lemhick. 



We ihould not leave the Sahara without faying fomethinc^r^, Lotus 

 alfo of the Lotus, becaufe the Fruit of It is frequently men-'^^l 

 tioned in Hiftory, and the Lotophagi ', a confiderable People 

 of thefe and the adjacent Deferts, received their Name from 

 It. Herodotus ■ informs us,that the Fruit was fweet like the Date ♦ 

 TUn/, that it was of the Bignefs of a Bean, and of a Saffron' 

 Colour; 'm^Theophraflus\ that it grew (thick) like the Fruit 

 of the Myrtle Tree. From which Circumitances, the Lotus 

 ArUr of the Antients appears to be the fame Plant with the 



I Exc. p. 2. C. p. 3. C. p. 8. C. p. 14. E. &c. 2 Exc. p. 2. C. Afm^ infignem 

 Arborcm Loxon gignit ** magnitudo qu^ pyro, qiiaiiqiiam tie^s Cornelius brevem tradat. 

 ** Magnitudo Iniic Fabs, color croci, fed ante maturitatem alius atque alius, ficut in uvis, 

 Nafcitur denfus in rannis myrti modo, non ut in Italia, ccrafi : tarn duici ibi cibo, utnomen 

 etiamgenti tcrrxque dederit, nimis hofpitali advenarum oblivionepatrix, &c. PlinA.i^.c.i/. 

 4 Ο 3 KUfTTi; ίλ /V.Qr JCu«f/of. τητηά»^'^ j ωαιη? ο', fiiifuis, iJ.i-mCi».my -nii χζβώ.ί . 'tuiTcu Λ' χ^θα^ρ τα' ^'p-ra 



Hift. Plant. I. 4. cap. 4. 



L 1 1 [Seedra 



arid Loto- 

 ha?i. 



