SAIDY DATE OF EGYPT. 9 



On page 54 Edmonstone adds : " Dates are an article of commerce 

 with Egypt, and we often met caravans conveying them." 



No mention has so far been made of the varieties of dates which 

 were then grown in the oases, and our earliest authority on this is 

 Frederic Cailliaud (^), a young French engineer, who visited the 

 Oasis of " Syouah," going in from Fayum in December, 1819. He 

 thus explains his selection of the route via Fayum : 



As I found it impossible to enter Syouali by way of Terraneh, I decided to 

 go by Fayum, joining one of the caravans wliich go to this oasis for the trade in 

 dates, which they market at Cairo and Alexandria. 



From this paragraph we get an important side light on the magni- 

 tude of the trade in dates from Siwa Oasis a century ago. Describ- 

 ing the products of this oasis, he says : 



The principal trees of the oasis are the date palms, the olives, the apricots, 

 and the pomegranates; more rarely are the fig, the plum, and the apple trees, 

 while the doum palms, trees common in the southern oases, do not occur here. 

 Five varieties of dates are distinguished, one of which has no seed ; they are 

 called gazaly, freyeh, sayd, el-ka'yby, and ouaedy; the first also called soultany, 

 are most highly esteemed. Generally the dates of the oasis are superior to 

 those which are produced on the borders of the Nile. The ouaedy dates are 

 used for food for camels, donkeys, and other animals. The sdyd dates are 

 packed fresh in baskets for exportation. The oasis abounds in dates ; this fruit 

 is used extensively in commerce. 



Cailliaud took the long caravan trail from Siwa to " El-Ouah el- 

 Bahryeh." where he arrived January 1, 1820. He thus vividly de- 

 scribes their approach to the oasis as heralded by spots of vegetation 

 and tamarix bushes and finally the appearance of the palm groves : 



On the 1st of January, 1820, we set out at half past 9 in the morning 

 following the Ayn-Beledy Valley in the east. The grass, asclepias, tamarix, 

 and the small marshes that we found along our route revealed to us that we 

 were near an oasis. Soon we could see the date palm. With what pleasure we 

 observed this rich verdure in the midst of the sands of the desert, after having 

 endured so much of fatigue, anxiety, and privations ; * * * 



At midday we arrived at El Quasr, the largest village in the oasis, which 

 the Arabs call El-Ouah el-Bahryeh, being the most northern oasis on the 

 Egyptian frontier. 



Cailliaud spent the greater part of January in studying the 

 antiquities of this oasis and the customs of the people and noted the 

 arrival of a caravan o f traders from the Nile : 



On the 10th of the month a small caravan came from Minyeh, a town in lower 

 Egypt, loaded its camels with dates, and left after a few days. 



Later (p. 177) , Cailliaud tells us definitely what these export dates 

 are: 



Dates form the principal product of this oasis; although good they are less 

 esteemed than those of the Syouah which surpass all others. The best ones of 

 the region are called Sayd eh; they are packed, still fresh, in baskets and 

 are exported in this state. 



Twelve years later, in October, 1832, Hoskins (19) gives this 

 graphic account of the date trees of Kharga and their date com- 

 merce with Egy ""t : 



El Khargeh, 20th October. — We rode here in three hours and a half. I shall 

 include in this description of the metropolis of the oasis the information I 

 obtained both now and on a subsequent visit after leaving the antiquities. The 

 view of El Khargeh at a distance is very prepossessing. Its greatest attraction 

 consists in a magnificent thick forest of date trees, which extends probably a 

 mile toward the north and south and is surrounded by a brick inclosure, like 



8965—23 2 



