' BOOK XIII. i.x. 39-42 



useful for wicker-work ; it grows in large numbcrs in 

 Crete, but even more in Sicily. Palmwood makes 

 charcoal that lasts a long time and burns slowly. In 

 the pahiis that bear fruit the core of the fruit is 

 shorter in some cases than in others and also softer ; 

 in some cases it is of a bony substance, and when 

 poHshed with the edge of a file is used by superstition 

 as a charm against witchcraft. The core is wrapped 

 in several coats which in some cases vary in number 

 and in others in thickness. Consequently there are 

 forty-nine kinds of palm, if one cared to go through 

 the names of them all, including those that have 

 foreign names, and the varieties of wine that are 

 extracted from them. The most famous of all is 

 honoured by the name of the royal palm, because it 

 used to be reserved for the kings of Persia alone ; 

 it grew only at Babylon in the Garden of Bagous — 

 the Persian word for a eunuch, some of these having 

 actually been kings in Persia. This garden was 

 always kept within the precincts of the ruler's court. 



In the southern part of the world the kind called VaHetiesof 

 in Greek the wild-boar date is held in the highest '^^'"* 

 repute, and next to it ranks the Maldive nut date. 

 The latter is a short, rounded fruit of a white colour, 

 more Uke a grape than a Phoenician date, for which 

 reason it has also received the name of pearl- 

 date. It is said that only one palm-tree of this 

 kind exists, at Chora, and the same is the case with 

 the wild-boar date ; and a remarkable story has 

 come to us about this tree, to the effect that it dies 

 off and then comes to life again of itself — a peculiarity 

 which it shares with the phoenix," which is thought to 

 have taken its name fromthe suggestion of thispalm- 

 tree : the tree was bearing fruit at the time when 



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