THE DA^E-PALM. 143 



(x roves of dates adorn the coasts of Valencia in Spain; near 

 (jenoa its plantations afford leaves for the celebration of Palm 

 Sunday; and in the gardens of southern France a date tree 

 s(jmetimes mixes among the oranges and olives. But it never 

 l)ears fruit on these northern limits of its empire, and thrives 

 best in the oases on the borders of the sandy desert. Here it is 

 cultivated with the greatest care, and irrigated every morning ; 

 for though it will grow on an arid soil, it absolutely requires 

 water to be fruitful. 



The date-palm is propagated by shoots, and the female tree 

 1 )ears its first fruits after four or five years. It is said to attain 

 to an age of two centuries, but is rarely left standing longer 

 tlian eighty years, when the trunk is tapped in spring, producing 

 a kind of toddy, which is consumed in great quantities in " Bile- 

 didgerid," or the long line of oases to the south of the Atlas, 

 wljich has been preeminently called the " land of dj^tes." Like 

 tlie cocoa-nut tree, the Phoenix dactylifera bears a crown of 

 feathery fronds, though without equalling the " littoral palm" in 

 beauty. It blooms in March or April, and its fecundity is such 

 that it annually bears as much as two hundredweight of dates, 

 which are plucked in October or November. The fresh fruits 

 {Tcmir) are the best, but they are mostly dried in the sun (Bela\ 

 and either eaten without any other preparation, or mixed 

 with flour and baked into a kind of bread, which is very 

 nutritious and of an agreeable taste. D'Escayrac de Lauture 

 tells us that a fresh date, the kernel of which has been ex- 

 tracted and replaced by an almond or a piece of butter, is 

 delicious. 



There are at least sixty varieties of dates, and in the oases 

 of Tozer and Nefta the chieftains told D'Escayrac the names 

 of thirty-five different kinds all cultivated there. The most 

 esteemed varieties are the Monahhir, which is very rare, and 

 exclusively reserved for the table of the Bey of Tunis, and the 

 Degleh, which grows to the height of eighty feet and produces 

 from eight to ten clusters or large bunches of fruit, weighing 

 each from twelve to twenty pounds. The common people hardly 

 ever taste this date, which is either exported, or consumed only 

 by the wealthier classes, and must content themselves with the 

 common Halig, which grows in abundance wherever the Phoenix 

 can flourish. It is not to be wondered at that the tribes of the 



