4 BULLETIN - 1457, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Siwa Oasis, known to the ancient Egyptians by the name of 
" Sokhit Ami," or the " Orchard of Palms" (7), 2 must have satisfied 
its oasis neighbors of the greater stability of the date industry, for 
the wine trade of the more southern oases has long been superseded 
by that in dates. Doubtless thousands of seedlings had been weeded 
out as unprofitable before Cailliaud (^) compiled the first recorded 
Jist of five varieties at Siwa in 1819 — "Gazaly (or Soultany), Freyeh, 
Sa£d, El Ka'yby, and Ouaedy." 
Although the Ghazali (Sultani) date is still regarded as superior 
in quality to the Saidy, as it was in Cailliaud's time, when tested by 
vigor, yield, packing and transporting quality, and salability, the 
Saidy has been for more than 200 years the one great export date of 
the five Libian Oases. 
Edmonstone (8) , writing in 1822, quotes Yansleb, a Dominican friar 
who traveled in Egypt and Nubia in 1672-1673, as stating: 
The best dried dates come from Elwa [El Wah, a general term for the 
Libian Oasis region], which region lies three days' journey inland from Siout. 
These are so fleshy and sweet that others would be considered sour and bitter 
after them. 
That region of El Wah, "three days' journey inland from Siout" 
(Assiut), could have referred either to Kharga Oasis or to Baharia, 
but in either case with a considerable error in distance, as Poncet 
(15), in 1698, left "Siout" October 2 and reached "Helaoue" 
(Kharga) October 6. Baharia is slightly farther from Assiut, but 
neither journey could be made in less than five or six days with 
loaded camels. Both oases have been heavy exporters of the Saidy 
date from our earliest accounts of them. 
UPPER NILE VARIETAL DATE REGION 
Varietal elate culture beyond the First Cataract has been much cur- 
tailed in the Nubian region by the flooding of the narrow Nile bot- 
toms by the waters impounded by the great barrage. 
There yet remains a considerable area of culture in the district of 
Korosko and Kasr Ibrim, above which only scattering groves are 
recorded until the Sukkot country is reached. This country com- 
prises a district below the Third Cataract and appears to have been 
the nucleus of date culture in the Sudan and Nubia. 
Burckhardt (£), in reporting his journey up the Nile in 1813, 
wrote of very good dates at Korosko, but spoke more highly of the 
dates of Sukkot, which country he reached a little later. Still later 
he tells us that Merowe in the Dongola country had no good dates, 
but traded for the excellent dates of Sukkot. This was confirmed 
by the chief men of Merowe during the writer's visit in 1913. They 
said that 100 years ago they had no good dates, but that their four 
leading varieties, the Barakawi, Bentamoda, Gondeila, and Kulma, 
had been brought from Sukkot. As the distance across the Nile 
bend by caravan trail is only about 150 miles, this assertion seems 
very reasonable. 
Traffic between this portion of the Nile Valley and Arabia across 
the Red Sea is very ancient; but, since the distance from the nearest 
2 Serial numbers in italic in parentheses refer to " Literature cited " at the end of this 
bulletin. 
