DATE CULTURE IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN 15 
The Nile post steamers on the Dongola reach, between the Third 
and Fourth Cataracts, tow many barge loads of this date to Karima, 
whence they go by rail both to Haifa and to Omdurman. There is 
also a heavy camel traffic from points on the big bend of the Xile 
across the mountains direct to Omdurman. 
THE BENTAMODA DATE 
VARIETAL CHARACTER COMMERCIALLY CONSIDERED 
In number of trees and volume of fruit production the Bentamoda 
variety (the Bartamoda of Upper Egypt) occupies a minor place 
among the commercial dates of Egypt and the Sudan, but its superb 
character as a dessert fruit, with its admirable keeping and shipping 
qualities, entitle it to a high place among the world's finest dates. 
Why it has remained so long in so obscure yet so distinguished a 
position (for it is most highly esteemed among those who know it) 
is one of the conundrums of the date industry, with the possible 
answer that it may lack in productive capacity to a degree that would 
make its culture commercially unprofitable. Mere commercial 
inertia seems to be a more probable explanation. 
To illustrate : In two private gardens in Upper Egypt there are 
growing to-day tw T o seedling date palms, each producing fruit in size, 
flavor, and shipping qualities fully equal to the far-famed Deglet 
Noor of Algeria, yet both of these trees have passed the offshoot- 
producing stage without an offshoot having been planted from 
either. Each owner has been content with the possession of a choice 
date within his walled garden. 
The Saidy, for more than a century the prize date of a brisk 
commerce between the Libian oases and the Xile Valley, until Ameri- 
can recognition has scarcely been seen beyond Cairo, yet the Deglet 
Xoor, with probably a later origin as a seedling, has become the most 
highly prized commercial date of the world. It is entirely possible 
that the Bentamoda, after its seclusion of more than a century, may 
yet find its place among the fine dates of the world's commerce. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE BENTAMODA (BARTOMODA) DATE 
The description of the Bentamoda date, adapted from Department 
Bulletin No. 271 (1$) , follows : 
Trees of the Bentamoda variety have moderately heavy trunks and grace- 
fully curved leaves 9 to 12 feet long, with light, slender ribs and narrow bases. 
The spine area is very short, the slender needlelike spines being from 1 inch 
long below to 5 or 6 inches in length where they pass to the narrow, grassy 
ribbon pinnae. The normal pinnae range in length from 12 or 1G inches to 18 
or rarely 21 inches at a little beyond the middle of the blade, holding 12 to 
16 inches to near the apex, where they shorten abruptly to a range of 7 to 
10 inches. 
The pinnae are narrow throughout, seven-eighths of an inch to 1 inch broad, 
rarely exceeding 1% or l 1 ^ inches in the wider ones. Their texture is soft 
and grasslike, with a thickness of 0.011 to 0.011 of an inch. The pulvini are 
light, in some cases slightly caudate, but with no groups eoalescent. At the 
base of the blade the pinnae have a light axial divergence and a strong diver- 
gence from the blade plane, forming a narrow, close valley, which opens out 
toward the middle of the blade, where the pinnae arc at about 27° to 30° from 
the blade plane, giving a rather smooth uniform leaf toward the apex. Hie 
general color is rather light green, with a thin waxy bloom. 
