THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 687 



re-exports, during the same period, were as follows : — 1900-1 , 

 34,444 cwt., valued at Rs. 1,69,263 ; 1901-2, 27,632 cwt,, 

 valued at Rs. 1,41,939; 1902-3, 47,041 cwt., valued at 

 Rs. 2,18,455; 1903-4, 25,330 cwt., valued at Rs. 1,27,277; 

 1904-5, 22,260 cwt., valued at Rs. 1,24,684; 1905-6, 23,542 

 cwt., valued at Rs. 1,31,373; and in 1906-7, 27,945 cwt., valued 

 at Rs. 1,69,639. 



" The foreign supplies, on the other hand, are large and 

 important ; in 1900-1 they came to 871,272 cwt., valued at 

 Rs. 41,94,972 ; 1901-2, 901,006 cwt., valued at Rs. 42,11,091 ; 

 1902-3, 633,390 cwt., valued at Rs. 31,43,967 ; 1903-4, 725,003 

 cwt., valued at Rs. 36,27,590 ; 1904-5, 812,284 cwt., valued at 

 Rs. 40,96,034 ; 1905-6, 867,229 cwt., valued at Rs. 44,87,709 ; 

 and in 1906-7, 814,781 cwt., valued at Rs. 48,37,461. The largest 

 quantities come usually from Turkey in Asia, viz., 479,200 cwt. in 

 1906-7 ; Arabia, 238,101 cwt. ; and Persia, 73,863 cwt., and are 

 received chiefly by Bombay and Sind, which took as their shares 

 562,335 cwt. and 205,571 cwt. respectively."— (Watt). 



I think it is not out of place to say a few words about the so- 

 called "date-marks" or "Baghdad boils," as some wanted to 

 find a connection between these boils and the eating of dates. 

 The boils make their appearance in July or August as a small 

 pimple, which grows very slowly for several months, and then 

 becomes tender and swollen, continues as an open sore for some 

 months more and slowty dries up. Considering the virulence of the 

 sore, it is remarkably little painful, unless it happens to come on 

 a joint or a part much exposed to knocks. Children are the great- 

 est sufferers, and are always attacked on the face. Scarcely any 

 resident of Baghdad, either European or Native, escapes from these 

 boils, which in severe cases may cause the loss of the sight of an 

 eye or carry off a bit of the nose or lip. Why the name " date- 

 marks " should be given to these boils is not easy to understand ; 

 many explanations are offered but none seem satisfactory. Some 

 say that they come from eating dates, but this is certainly untrue. 

 Others maintain that they are so called because they afflict people 

 in date-bearing countries ; but this explanation does not hold good 

 either, for Basra is far more the region of Date Palms than Bat>h- 



