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 (9), 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 Syouah by way of Terraneh, I decided to 
go by Fayum. joining one of the caravans which 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, sdyd, 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 ouacdi/ 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 of traders from the Nile: 
On the 10th of the monih 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 Say deli; 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 Egypt : 
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 
