228 DATEGROWING 



Deglet Niir, properly Daqlet al Niir, Date of the 

 Light, or The Translucent Seedling, a variety which 

 originated in the Saharan oasis of Balad al Ahmar 300 

 years ago and at once assumed the position of un- 

 contested supremacy which had previously been 

 held by Kasbeh or Bti Zakri.* Another version 

 derives its name from a female saint, Lalla Nureh, 

 who is supposed to have lived at the oasis, where she 

 said her prayers regularly by the side of the road, 

 and repeated the ninety -nine names of God; but 

 as she was too poor to buy a rosary for this purpose, 

 she selected ninety-nine date seeds, on which she told 

 the attributes of the Deity. When she died, passers- 

 by found her body and buried her on the spot; the 

 ninety-nine date seeds were left lying about and, taking 

 root, became palms of this new and superlative 

 variety which, after the owner of the seeds, was called 

 Degleh Nureh, or Nureh 's seedling. Such is the 

 Arabic legend, and the moralising relator adds, "Thus 

 did God reward those who had bestowed charity on 

 his servant (Lalla Nureh) by giving them better 

 dates than they had before possessed, "f The variety 

 has now become the standard of excellence in Algeria 

 and Tunisia. I estimate, on the basis of government 



*See Deser. Gen. de Africa by Luis del Marmoi, folio 15. Granada 

 1573. The variety is still found in Tunisia, where it is esteemed, and 

 in Tafilalet, where it even today ranks as one of the best dates. 



jL. Gognalons has recently put forward a new version of the 

 name, for which he alleges the authority of a Tradition: that Muham- 

 mad had a favorite wife named Nureh who, one day as she was 

 bathing, found a seedling palm which had grown by the fountain; 

 she called the prophet's attention to it, and he transplanted it and 

 named it in her honor. This legend is too absiud to be worthy of 

 notice. In point of fact, Muhammad never had a wife named 

 Nureh. Gognalons, L. La Legende du Palmier dans I'Afrique du 

 Nord. Bui. Soc. de Geog. et d'Archeol. d'Oran, t.XXXII, fasc. 

 CXXX (1st trim.) an. 35, mars, 1912, p. 115; and also in Revue 

 Africaine, an. 52, No. 285, p. 203. Alger, 2d trim., 1912. 



