406  7  he  Date  Tree  and  its  Products.  {^^T^ItT* 
Ocean  to  the  valley  of  the  Indus,  between  the  12°  and  37°  N.  lati- 
tude. Throughout  this  immense  space,  it  is,  like  the  bamboo  in  East- 
ern Asia  and  the  cocoanut  in  the  equatorial  regions,  the  most  precious 
gift  of  nature  to  man,  for  it  contributes  to  all  his  most  essential  wants  : 
food,  clothing,  lodging,  cooking  utensils,  etc.  The  date  is  certainly 
the  most  common  tree  in  all  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  and  is  found  in 
greatly  increasing  numbers  from  the  village  of  Ibrim  in  Lower  Nubia 
to  the  Mediterranean.  A  remarkable  peculiarity  shown  by  the  date 
tree  of  Lower  Nubia  is  that  from  the  top  of  the  roots  several  stalks 
grow,  to  the  number  of  from  three  to  fifteen,  which  constitute  a  group 
of  stipe3,  more  or  less  divergent,  nearly  all  of  the  same  height,  and 
amongst  which  are  found  males,  that  nature  seems  to  have  placed 
there  for  the  fecundation  of  all  the  group.  The  date  presents  a  fine 
sight,  when  from  amongst  the  bower  of  leaves  which  surmounts  it  are 
suspended  enormous  bunches  of  fruit,  very  often  furnishing  several 
hundred  weight.  The  dates  of  Upper  Egypt  and  the  Oasis  are  the 
most  delicate.  They  are  not  left  to  ripen  on  the  tree.  After  being 
gathered  and  exposed  several  days  to  the  sun,  they  get  ripe,  and  are 
then  a  very  fine  and  sweet  fruit,  which,  by  reason  of  its  nutritive  pro- 
perties and  easy  digestion,  is  a  veritable  gift  of  Heaven,  for  all  find 
in  it  a  healthy  and  abundant  nourishment.  The  fresh  dates,  which 
are  mostly  found  in  quantities  in  the  Cairo  markets,  are  the  red  dates 
called  in  Arabic  "  Balah  ayany,"  and  the  yellow  sugary  dates  called 
i4  Balah  ama'at."  The  first  take  their  name  from  a  village  of  Upper 
Egypt,  from  whence  they  come,  and  the  others  are  collected  at  Be- 
drechyn,  Zaggarah  and  Ghyza.  These  dates  are  of  a  dark  yellow, 
smaller  than  the  first  named,  and  soon  pass  into  acid  fermentation. 
But  the  largest  quantity  of  dates  are  not  eaten  fresh.  A  great  part 
are  dried  for  consumption  during  the  winter,  or  for  export  to  foreign 
countries.  These  are  pressed  in  large  masses,  which  keep  perfectly 
well,  and  from  which  are  prepared  cakes  of  a  very  fine  taste.  The 
Arabs  of  Sinai  make  a  date  cake,  into  which  they  put  almonds,  and 
then  wrap  it  in  gazelle  skins  ;  these  sacks  of  date  cake  are  sold 
in  Cairo  during  the  winter.  In  Egypt  the  date  trees  produce  several 
varieties  of  fruit,  which  differ  from  each  other  in  size,  form,  color, 
season  of  ripening,  the  nature  of  the  drupe,  being  more  or  less  sweet, 
and  their  facility  of  keeping.  All  these  circumstances  have  estab- 
lished upwards  of  twenty  varieties  of  dates,  to  which  the  Egyptians 
have  given  more  or  less  ridiculous  names.  It  is  not  for  its  fruit  alone 
