SAIDY DATE OF EGYPT. 13 



QUEST FOR THE "WAHI" DATE BY THE UNITED STATES DEPART- 

 MENT OF ARICULTURE, PROVING THE IDENTITY OF THE 

 "WAHI," "SEWI," AND SAIDY DATES. 



This brings the fragmentary but very vivid and consistent story 

 of the dasis date industry down to the time when the Saidy variety 

 came to the notice of the staff of the Bureau of Plant Industry. 



In 1901 David Faircliild, Agricultural Explorer of the Department 

 of Agriculture, saw a date called " Wahi " in the bazaars of Fayum 

 and recognized its excellence in spite of the unattractive packing. 

 From samples sent by Mr. Fairchild to the Departmeht of Agricul- 

 ture at Washington, D. C, Walter T. Swingle (27) wrote the follow- 

 ing paragraph, appearing in Bulletin 53 of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, issued April 28, 1904 : 



Another sort of great promise is the Wahi, of which samples were secured 

 by Mr. Fairchild in the market of Fayoiim, in west-central Egypt. This variety 

 is said to come from the oasis of Seewah, known to the ancients as Ammon, 

 or Ammonium, some 300 miles to the westward, in the interior of the Sahara 

 Desert. The date is brown, less transparent than the Deglet Noor, but rather 

 longer and decidedly broader ; the seed is blunter and much more irregular 

 in outline. The flesh is yellowish, granular midway between the skin and the 

 seed, and of a most delicious flavor. This date had been gathered and kept, 

 with no precautions against drying out, for at least eight months when it was 

 received at Washington, but it was still in very good condition, except for 

 the attacks of weevils. It seems to be a better keeper and to have a higher 

 flavor than the Deglet Noor. Nothing is known as to the palm which produces 

 this date, but from the quality of the fruit it is presumably a late-maturing 

 A'ariety. 



Mr. Fairchild's notes on the " Wahi " date were published in 

 Bureau of Plant Industrj^ Inventory No. 10 of seed and plant intro- 

 ductions (issued February 8, 1905), M'here it is described as follows: 



7001. Phoenix Dactyliteka. Date. 



From Favum, Egypt. Received through D. G. Fairchild (No. 617), 

 .July 1, 1901. 



Wahi. Twenty kilos of dried fruit of a variety of date which is said to have 

 been brought from Siwah, a small village in the oasis of Bahriyeh. It is to my 

 taste the sweetest drying date in Egypt — at least it is much sweeter than the 

 Amri or any other I have tasted. It has a very peculiar mealy flesh of golden to 

 greenish yellow. The skin is very thin and smooth and of a golden brown 

 shade. Seed short, rather large, and clinging to the meat rather firmly. The 

 flesh is somewhat granulated with the sugar. I can not be certain that this 

 variety did really come from Siwah, but it certainly is a sort not commonly 

 seen at this season in Cairo and is superior in flavor to that which is considered 

 the best in Egypt. The word Wahi signifies merely oasis, according to Mr. H. A. 

 Rankin, of Fayum. 



From this account it seems that Mr. Fairchild had a clue as to the 

 origin of the " Wahi " date which should have led to the early dis- 

 covery of its identity with the Saidy. On April 2, 1904, Mr. Swingle 

 wrote to Mr. Fairchild in part as follows : 



I was mistaken in stating that the Sultani date is reported for Baharieh, the 

 Petit Oasis; it is the Saijdeh date which is named by Cailliaud as the best date 

 in the oasis, though he expressly says " not so good as Siwah dates, which are 

 best of all." Of the Smjdeh he says, " On les entasse, encore fraiches, dans les 

 panniers et on les exports dans cet etat." 



There is a Sayd date in Siwah also packed in baskets when fresh for export. 

 Probably the Saydeh of Baharieh and the Sayd of Siicah are identical. 



It would be well to ask for offshoots of the Saydeh date if it is different from 

 the Wahi. [The last italics are the writer's.] 



