THE DATE-TREE. 417 



grown tree loaded with fruit. Another miracle is related 

 of the species called el syhani, which hailed the Prophet 

 as he passed under it with a loud Salaam Aleikoom ! The 

 birni is esteemed the most wholesome and the easiest of 

 digestion ; Mohammed, with whom it was a favourite, re- 

 commended the Arabs to eat seven of them every morn- 

 ing before breakfast. The jebeli, which is scarce, is about 

 one inch in breadth, three in length, and has a very agree- 

 able taste. The price of the birni is twenty paras, or Q^d. 

 per keile (a measure containing about 120 dates), while the 

 jebeli are sold at the rate of eight for the same money. 

 They are in great request with the hajjis, who always 

 carry some of them home as presents to their friends : 

 they are bought in small boxes holding about a hundred. 

 One species of the Medina date remains perfectly green 

 even when ripe and dried ; another retains a bright saf- 

 fron colour. These are threaded on strings, and worn as 

 ornaments by children, or sold under the name of Kalayd 

 es Sham, or Necklaces of the North. Dates are dressed in 

 a variety of ways ; they are boiled, stewed with butter, 

 or reduced to a thick pulp by simmering in water, over 

 which honey is poured. It is a saying of the Arabs, 

 " that a good housewife may furnish her husband every 

 day for a month with a dish of dates differently prepared." 

 The many purposes to which almost every part of this 

 tree is applied have been mentioned by several travellers. 

 The timber serves for rafters or firewood, the fibres for 

 cordage, and the leaves for cages, boxes, bedsteads, baskets, 

 cradles, and other articles of the hurdle species. The 

 Hejazees, like the Egyptians, make use of the leaves, 

 the outer and inner bark, and the fleshy substance at the 

 root of the leaves where they spring from the trunk. The 

 kernels, after being soaked for two days in water until 

 they become soft, are given as food to camels, cows, and 

 sheep, instead of barley, and are said to be much more 

 nutritive than that grain. In Nejed the kernels are ground 

 for the same purpose ; but this is not done in Hejaz. At 

 Medina there are shops where nothing else is sold but 

 date-stones ; and in all the main streets beggars are occu- 

 pied in picking up those that are thrown away. The 

 fruit does not all ripen at the same time, each species hav- 

 ing its particular season. The harvest at Medina con- 

 tinues for two or three months (from July till Septem- 

 ber), but dates are eaten by the beginning of June. This 



