8 BULLETIN 1125, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



Homeman says, 



The people of Ummesogeir are, indeed, in every respect poor, depending wholly 

 for subsistence on their dates, which they in part sell to the Arabs of the desert 

 and in part carry to Alexandria and exchange for corn, oil, or fat. 



Of Siwa, after a general description of the town and people, he 

 tells us : 



Its soil is a sandy loam, in some places rather poached or fenny ; but, assisted 

 by no great industry of the natives, it produces corn, oil, and vegetables for the 

 use of man or beasts. Its chief produce, however, consists in dates, which, from 

 their great quantity and excellence of flavor, render the place proverbial for 

 fertility among the surrounding Arabs of the desert. Each inhabitant possesses 

 one or more gardens, making his relative wealth, and these it is his whole busi- 

 ness to water and cultivate. * * * ^he dates produced are preserved in 

 public magazines, of which the key is kept by the sheik ; to these storehouses the 

 dates are brought in baskets closely rammed down, and a register of each 

 deposit is kept. 



Horneman refers to the fact that dates are used as a method of 

 exchange and in the place of money in payment of tributes, fines, etc. 



Justice is administered according to ancient usage and general notions of 

 equity. Fines, to be paid in dates, constitute the punishments; for instance, 

 the man who strikes another pays from 10 to 50 Icaftas, or baskets, of dates; 

 these baskets, by which everything in this place is estimated and appraised, 

 are about S' feet high and 4 or 5 feet in circumference. * * * j ^^^s told 

 much of the riches of this people and should suppose there must be men of 

 considerable property amongst them, as they have a very extensive traffic in 

 dates with different and remote countries, pay no tribute, and have little oppor- 

 tunity of dissipating the money they receive. 



Horneman was of the opinion that the language of Siwa was " not 

 fundamentally Arabic," but " a dialect of that in use throughout the 

 great nation of Africa * * * and which may be considered as 

 the aboriginal." 



He records that the Siwa word for dates is " tena." 



Sir Archibald Edmonstone, Bart. {!£) is regarded as the modem 

 discoverer of the " Inner Oasis, or Dakhla." 



The party of Edmonstone left the neighborhood of Beni Adi, on the 

 Nile, on February 11, 1819, and after a journey of six days reached 

 the village of "Bellata" (Belat, of modern maps), in the eastern 

 section of Dakhla. He explored the oasis as far as "El Cazar" 

 (El Kasr) in the northern part of the western section. (See map of 

 " The Oases of the Libyan Desert," by Hoskins (19). 



Edmonstone makes frequent references to the date groves, and one 

 plate (PL I, photographed from Edmonstone's " View of El Cazar ") 

 gives a most realistic picture of the date gardens surrounding the 

 famous " El Cazar " and the escarpment of the Cretaceous cliffs to 

 the northward. He writes of El Kasr as follows : 



The situation of this place is perfectly lovely; it is seated on an eminence 

 at the foot of the line of rock which rises abruptly behind it and is encircled 

 by extensive gardens filled with palm, acasia, citron, and various other kinds of 

 trees, some of which I have rarely seen before in these regions. 



Edmonstone quotes freely from other explorers, in part as follows : 



The fertility of the oasis has been deservedly celebrated. Strabo asserts the 

 superiority of the wine; Abulfeda and Edrissi mention the luxuriance of the 

 palm trees ; and Vansleb ' says, " The best dried dates are brought from Elwah. 

 which region lies 3 days' journey inland from Siout. These are so fleshy and 

 sweet that others would be considered sour and bitter after them." 



• Vansleb was a Dominican who traveled in Egypt and Nubia in the years 1672-73. 



