DATE CULTURE IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN 13 
DESCRIPTION OF THE BAEAKAWI DATE 10 ( SUKKOTI, IBRIMI, IBBIHIMI) " 
The following description of the Barakawi date, adapted from 
Department Bulletin No. 271 (12) ' ? now out of print, was prepared 
from notes by the writer on a journey to the Sudan in 1913. 
Tlie leaves of the Barakawi variety are 9 to 10 feet long, with a graceful 
feathery taper. The spine area is 18 to 24 inches, the spines slender and acute, 
the lower ones weak and short, but the higher ones become 2y 2 to 4 inches 
long, passing into ribbon pinnae 10 to 15 inches long, only three-eighths to one- 
half an inch broad, soft, thin, and acute. 
The normal pinnae 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 
pinnae are but 6 to 9 inches long and one-half to five-eighths of an inch wide. 
The pinnae are very smooth in their arrangement, falling nearly into two 
ranks, with a divergence 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 pinnae is not very 
pronounced, and toward the apex many of the pinnae are difficult to place. 
The pulvini are inconspicuous and none caudate. 
The fruits are of the dry type, 2 to 2 1 /± 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. 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. II). 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 
sometimes 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 
1% 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. XXIX) in the darker 
parts, fading toward "cream buff" (R. XXX) in the lighter portions. 
This is the great commercial date of Dongola Province, and it is claimed, 
as for the other three 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 get into it. It was 
formerly in great demand among the nomads, who came in from as far as 
Kordofan to purchase these dates at the Dongola market towns. The price as 
given by Davie 12 is 72 to 96 piasters per ardeb of 320 pounds, equivalent to 
$1.12% 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 
10 The original name of this variety, as obtained from Sukkot by the Dongola people, is 
undoubtedly Barakawi, which in the Arabic of that province signifies " blessed," as 
ascertained by Thomas W. Brown, of Giza. Some of the chief men of the province, 
however, write the name in a form which must be transliterated " Birkawi," adjective 
for the noun " birka," a pond or pool. Originating in Sukkot, offshoots of the variety 
were carried down the river to below Wadi Haifa, where they were given the name 
Sukkoti. After a shipping trade in these dates from the Ibrim region below Haifa was 
carried on to points down the river, they took the name Ibrimi, and now the Barakawi 
dates going to Cairo from Dongola Province are sold under the name of either Ibrimi 
or Sukkoti. 
11 Popenoe (16) gives this variety as " Ibrihimi, vulgarly Ibrimi, Abraham's date," 
being evidently unacquainted with the geographic origin of the name Ibrimi. 
"Unpublished manuscript, "The Date Palm," by W. A. Davie, Inspector of Agriculture, 
Khartum, May, 1911 ; courtesy of the Director of Agriculture and Forestry, Sudan Gov- 
ernment, 1913. 
