DATE CTjLTURE IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN 27 
that testify to the former grandeur of Memphis, growing upon the 
debris of her buildings, and shading a few poor hovels of the present 
inhabitants, are several thousand Amhat palms of very great age. 
Among them, perhaps not a hundred in all, are Saicly trees which 
appear equally venerable. That they are 130 years old may be 
doubted, yet some of the Saidy palms measured 45 feet to 51 feet 
10 inches, with Amhat 66 to 67 feet, and better nourished ones nearer 
the water 75 to 76 feet. 
Growth would, of course, be much slower than on the rich, well- 
watered bottom lands of Abu Nemrus and El Hawamdiya. 
These Memphis trees looked older than any other trees seen in the 
province, and here doubtless was the site of one of the original in- 
troductions of the Saidy date from Siwa Oasis into the Nile Valley, 
and probably the source of distribution to all this upper Giza 
country. 
Briefly, then, scattered well over Giza Province are found little 
groups and single trees of the Saidy date palm — which the people 
consistently call " Sewi " — trees of extreme age which the owners 
affirm are more than 100, 120, and even 130 years old. 
These might easily be the offspring of a few ,; shettla '' brought 
at a still earlier day by camel caravan from Siwa Oasis by the 
route over which caravans are still moving. 
Next there is a scarcely more numerous generation, said to be 
at present 75 or 80 years old, and with the habit of the Egyptian 
to think in round numbers these generations may doubtless run 
together. There is still quite a gap in time before planters began 
to wake up to the fact that there might be money in this date 
from "Wahat el Sewah." About 60 years ago one bold adventurer 
at Umm Khanan got hold of enough offshoots to plant about a third 
of a 4-feddan lot, still banking mostly on the old standby, Amhat; or 
he may have taken several years to do this, planting his own turn- 
over in Saidy offshoots as they were ready. Still his neighbors 
were cautious until they became convinced that he was making 
real money; and the acreage that has made upper Giza Province 
famous for the best packing date in all Egypt consists of «palms 
15 to 30 or 40 years old, with young plantings rapidly coming on. 
Wilkinson (22, vol. 2, p. 358), in his notes made in 1824, did not 
mention " Sewi " among Egyptian varieties. The few trees in bear- 
ing at that date doubtless did not attract his attention. Of the 
Saidy packed in Baharia for export to the valley, he says : " They 
are very sweet and rich, unlike any product in Egypt. 7 ' 
If Delchevalerie (5), writing more than 50 years ago, had been 
an investigator, he must have found this date from Siwa that was 
beginning to have commercial importance; but they were easily 
confused with the Saidy from Siwa, then brought in quantity by 
caravans to Kerdaseh and Alexandria. It must be remembered 
that the name Saidy is still practically unknown in the Nile Valley. 
COMPARISON OF CLIMATIC CONDITIONS IN EGYPT AND IN CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA 
As was stated in Department Bulletin No. 1125 (IS, p. 33), the 
climatic records of upper Giza Province, the home of many thou- 
sands of the Saidy date, under the name of " Sewi,'' show that it 
