DATE TREE. 
26*3 
tries, and furnishes them with almost the whole of 
their subsistence. They have flocks of sheep ; but 
as they are not numerous, they preserve them for 
the sake of their wool : besides, the flesh of these 
animals is very unwholesome food in countries that 
are excessively warm ; and these people, though 
ignorant, have probably been enabled by expe- 
rience to know, that it was salutary for them to abs- 
tain from it. The date trees are planted without 
any order, at the distance of tw r elve feet one from 
the other, in the neighbourhood of rivulets and 
streams which issue from the sand. Forests of 
them may be seen here and there, some of which 
are several leagues in circumference. The extent 
of these plantations depends upon the quantity of 
water which can be procured to water them ; for 
they require much moisture. All these forests are 
intermingled with orange-, almond-, pomegranate-, 
and especially vine-trees; which last twist round the 
trunks of the dates, and thus ripen their fruits by 
the heat of the climate, though they are never ex- 
posed to the sun. Dykes are erected along the 
rivulets and streams in the neighbourhood of the 
date trees, in order that the water may be con- 
ducted to refresh them by means of small canals. 
The number of canals is fixed for each individual ; 
and the proprietors in some districts are obliged 
to pay an annual sum for the use of them, pro- 
portionable to the number and extent of their 
plantations. The date trees are watered in every 
