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BULLETIN 271, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



GONDEILA. 



(Notes taken at Merowe, Dongola Province, the Sudan, in September, 1913.) 



The Gondeila date tree has beautiful, long, tapering leaves with their pinnae very 

 regular in arrangement, f orrri.ng a blade nearly open and flat. In general appearance it 

 reminds one of Arechti more than of any other variety. The leaves are 12 feet or more 

 in length, the rib moderately heavy, with a graceful taper, the base firm and heavy, 

 strongly rounded dorsally, but little arched ventrally. The spine area varies from 1\ 

 to 3 feet; the spines, usually placed singly, are rather weak and scattered. They pass 

 into ribbon pinnae, 22 to 24 inches long and one-half to five-eighths of an inch broad. 

 Above these the normal pinnae are 18 to 22 inches long, \\ to \\ inches broad, but 

 diminishing toward the apex to 17 or 18 inches in length and one-half to five-eighths of 

 an inch broad. They have a very graceful appearance, are soft in texture, and have 

 no acuteness at the tip . 



The pulvini are small and inconspicuous; none are caudate. 



The pinnae form angles of 10° to 15° with the plane of the blade and of 30° to 45° with 

 the axis of the loaf. In grouping, the pinnae run rather uniformly antrorse-retrorse and 



antrorse - introrse - retrorse, 

 with no higher groups. 



The fruit stalks (Arabic 

 "sobata") are very heavy, 

 2\ inches broad, rigid, 40 to 

 43 inches long to the head. 

 The fruiting head is 6 to 8 

 inches long; the strands 

 or "shamrokh" are short, 

 coarse, angled, sprangly, or 

 standing out at strong 

 angles from the heads; all 

 parts are a dull pale orange 

 color. 



The fruit, borne on the 

 outer half of the shamrokh, 

 is If to 2 inches long in the 

 partly ripe stage, smooth, oval (fig. 5), in color "antimony yellow" (R. XV), the flech 

 and inner surface being satiny white. As ripening proceeds, the fruit colors to amber 

 brown at the tip and becomes softly wrinkled, the ripening advancing toward the base, 

 which remains a dull yellow when fully ripe. The flesh is then pale-amber colored, 

 a little granular, rich, and sugary. 



This is decidedly a fine dry date, the equal of any we have from Algeria. At Merowe 

 on September 21 the last of the fruit had just been cut; the first was ripe 14 days earlier. 

 Trees of this variety are grown only in small numbers, and the fruit is usually kept 

 for presents or to offer to guests. It reaches Cairo only on special orders. 

 An ardeb (320 pounds) is priced at 154 piasters (about $2.40) per 100 pounds. 

 Inspector of Agriculture W. A. Davie quotes an ardeb of "Gondela" at 100 to 120 

 piasters (equivalent to $1.50 to $1.87) per 100 pounds. 



The Gondeila was given by the leading men at Merowe and by Col. H. W. Jackson, 

 Governor of the province, as one of their four chief varieties, ranking next to Barakawi 

 in numbers and importance. 



With others this variety is said to have been brought originally from the Sukkot 

 country, which the Dongola people say possessed the date first. Various authorities 

 agree that this date can now be found in small numbers in the region about Aswan, to 

 which country many date offshoots have been brought down the river from Sukkot. 

 A number of trees said to be of this variety were shown to the writer at Aswan in Feb- 

 ruary, 1914. 



Pic 



3. — Outlines of the Gondeila date from Merowe, Dongola Prov- 

 ince, Sudan: A, Freshly ripe; B, cured. (Natural size.) 



