256 DATE CROWING 



a paste which is kept in cans; thus treated it will 

 keep indefinitely, and is more attractive than the 

 paste of any other variety of date. There is still 

 some export from Oman to Zanzibar, particularly in 

 the form of presents from Omani growers to their 

 relatives in the African island (for that part of 

 Africa was colonized, and the slave trade exploited, 

 by Arabs from Oman; and for years Zanzibar formed 

 an integral part of the latter kingdom.) 



Although the variety comes from a frostless 

 locality, it has proved entirely hardy at Baghdad, 

 and there is every reason to suppose that it will be 

 exactly adapted to conditions in such a region as 

 Coachella Valley. It has not yet fruited in the 

 United States; several attempts were made during 

 the last decade to introduce it, principally with off- 

 shoots secured on the island of Bahrayn, but all 

 failed. This year, however, it was imported by the 

 West India Gardens on a scale large enough to give 

 every chance of success. I secured 100 offshoots in 

 the oases of Oman, and although prevented from 

 entering Hasa personally, was yet able to secure 400 

 offshoots from that region, through the kindness of 

 Rev. Gerrit J. Pennings of the American Mission on 

 the island of Bahrayn. He secured for me the 

 services of a capable native, Abdallah b. Mubarak, 

 who was willing to take the risks of a trip to the 

 interior, and who carried out his commission with 

 ability, in the face of a good deal of personal danger, 

 although he was not able to prevent Beduin raiders 

 from getting away with several camel loads of the 

 precious plants, on his way back to the coast. 



The variety is, in my opinion, fully equal to 

 Deglet Nur, being even lighter in color and having 



