Obfervations 6cc. 225* 



eth in full 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 Fafliion in this Country, ue Ho»ey of 

 to entertain their Guefts upon a Marriage, at the Birth of axrer^"" 

 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 diminiflieth, 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 ^rakj, according 

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

 Liquors, extracled by the Alemhich. 



We fliould not leave the Sahara without faying fomething r/.. Lotus 

 alfo of the Lotus ^ becaufe the Fruit of It is frequently men- ph'^g^°^°" 

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

 of thefe and the adjacent Deferts, received their Name from 

 It. Herodotus ' informs us,that the Fruit w^as fweet like the Date ; 

 Tliny \ that it was of the Bignefs of a Bean, and of a Saffron 

 Colour ; and Theophrafius \ that it grew (thick) like the Fruit 

 of the Myrtle Tree. From which Circumftances, the Lotus 

 Arhor 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. y^nc^n'nfigncin 

 Arborem Loton gignic ''* magnitudo quas pyro, quanquam Nupos Cornelius brevcm tradat. 

 ** Magnitudo huic Fabs, colot croci, fed ante maturitatcm alius arque alius, ficut in uvis, 

 Nafcitur denius in ramis myrti modo, non ut in Italia, ceiafi : tarn dulci ibi cibo, utnomen 

 ctiam genti tcrrxque dederit, nimis hofpitali advenarum oblivionepatrix, &c. F/in.l.ij.c.i/. 

 4 O KOfTnf iiMKQf Kvi/iJ.D(. ■mwuii^ 3 coajTif Of ^liiuis, iii-mC(i>Xav tbV yjtjii.(. 1/JiTou c/V if^SaTnp to /iwfTa 



Hiit. Plant. J. 4. cap. 4. 



L 1 1 {Seedra 



