20 BULLETIN 271, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
pinnze 10 to 15 inches long, only three-eighths to one-half an inch broad, soft, thin, 
and acute. 
The normal pinnfe are 12 to 16 inches long, three-fourths of an inch to 1 inch 
broad, but the blade tapers with a feathery grace toward the apex where the pinnz 
are but 6 to 9 inches long and one-half to five-eighths of an-inch wide. The pinnze 
are very smooth in their arrangement, falling nearly into two ranks, with a diver- 
gence from the plane of only 10° to 30°, and from the axis of 30° to 45°. The groups 
fall into twos, threes, and fours, but the difference in the angles formed by the 
antrorse, introrse, and retrorse pinnz is not very pronounced, and toward the apex 
many of the pinne are difficult to place. 
The pulvini are inconspicuous and none caudate. 
The fruits are of the dry type, 2 to 21 inches long, three-fourths of an inch broad at 
the base, tapering acuminately to a small obtuse apex. They are usually oblique 
and unsymmetrical, often slightly curved (Pl. V). The surface is broken by fine, 
branching, longitudinal furrows, but is more nearly smooth toward the base. The 
color of the apical half or two-thirds is ‘“‘chestnut brown” (R. XIV) or in some cases 
more nearly ‘“‘bay”’ (R. Il). There is a faint lavender bloom. The basal portion of 
the fruit is usually a shade between “‘honey yellow”’ and ‘‘Isabella color’’ (R. XXX). 
The firm dry flesh is three-sixteenths of an inch thick, having an outer zone some- 
times the color of the exterior, the inner portion being pale “‘cream color” (R. XVI) 
or “‘cartridge buff” (R. XXX). The flavor is moderately sweet, wheaty, with a 
suggestion of a fruity acid, and no hint of-astringency. With those who are fond of 
the appetizing flavor of the best dry dates without the cloying richness of the sirupy 
type, this will find a place among the three or four best varieties. The seeds are small 
for the size of the fruit, about 14 inches long, one-fourth to five-sixteenths of an inch 
broad, nearly oblong, smooth, with a broadly rounded apex. The small germ pore is 
placed at about three-fifths of the seed length from the base, the ventral furrow being 
narrow but rather deep. In color they are ‘‘snuff brown” (R. X XIX) in the darker 
parts, fading toward ‘‘cream buff” (R. XXX) in the lighter portions. 
This is the great commercial date of the Dongola Province, and it is claimed, as for 
the three other varieties, that it was brought from the Sukkot country many years 
ago, a claim fully sustained by Burckhardt’s account. 
The fruit is reputed to possess the best keeping qualities of any variety known in 
Nubia or the Sudan. The natives say that it will keep for two years, and that it is 
so hard that the weevils do not getintoit. Itisin great demand among the nomads, 
who come in from as far as Kordofan to purchase these dates at the Dongola market 
towns, The price as given by Davie! is 72 to 96 piasters per ardeb of 320 pounds, 
equivalent to $1.124 to $1.50 per 100 pounds. 
Col. H. W. Jackson, Governor of Dongola Province, states that about one-third of the 
output of this date now goes to Egypt; also that they are much sought after by the 
pilgrims to Mecca, their fine keeping and transporting qualities, as well as their 
excellence as a food, making them very desirable for such a long journey. One of ~ 
the prominent sheiks told the writer that these dates are sold in Egypt under the 
name Ibrimi. 
The region of the chief production of this date is the great bend of the Nile, a stretch 
of about 150 miles lying between the third and fourth cataracts. For the greater part 
the bottoms are very narrow, scarcely more than garden patches, and often the rugged 
sandstone bluffs, crowned with the ruins of ancient Roman fortresses or the more 
- recené native retreats in time of river raids, rise abruptly from the river bank. There 
are no irrigation canals in the entire province, and with the exception of some small 
flood areas and the infiltration received by trees near the river banks, the date trees 
are all irrigated by means of rude geared wheels of acacia wood (sakieh) turned by 
1 Unpublished manuscript, ‘‘The Date Palm,’’ by W. A. Davie, Inspector of Agriculture, Khartum, 
May, 1911; courtesy of the Director of Agriculture and Forestry, Sudan Government. 
