The Many Different Uses To Which Almost Every Part Of The Date-Tree Is
Applied, Have Already Been Mentioned By Several Travellers; They Render
It As Dear To The Settled Arab, As The Camel Is To The Bedouin.
[P.356] Mohammed, in one of the sayings recorded of him, compares the
virtuous and generous man to this noble tree.
"He stands erect before
his Lord; in his every action he follows the impulse received from
above, and his whole life is devoted to the welfare of his fellow-
creatures." [See also the 1st Psalm, v. 3. - "And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water," &c.] The people of the Hedjaz, like the
Egyptians, make use of the leaves, the outer and inner bark of the
trunk, and the fleshy substance at the root of the leaves where they
spring from the trunk; and, besides this, they use the kernels of the
fruit, as food for their cattle: they soak them for two days in water,
when they become softened, and then give them to camels, cows, and
sheep, instead of barley; and they are said to be much more nutritive
than that grain. There are shops at Medina in which nothing else is sold
but date-kernels; and the beggars are continually employed, in all the
main streets, in picking up those that are thrown away. In the province
of Nedjed the Arabs grind the kernels for the same purpose; but this is
not done in the Hedjaz.
Various kinds of dates are found at Medina, as well as in all other
fruitful vallies of this country; and every place, almost, has its own
species, which grows no where else. I have heard that upwards of one
hundred different sorts of dates grow in the immediate neighbourhood of
the town; the author of the description of Medina mentions one hundred
and thirty. Of the most common sorts are the Djebely, the cheapest, and
I believe the most universally spread in the Hedjaz; the Heloua; the
Heleya, a very small date, not larger than a mulberry; it has its name
from its extraordinary sweetness, in which it does not yield to the
finest figs from Smyrna, and like them is covered, when dried, by a
saccharine crust. The inhabitants relate, that Mohammed performed a
great miracle with this date: he put a stone of it into the earth, which
immediately took root, grew up, and within five minutes a full-grown
tree, covered with fruit, stood before him. Another miracle is related
of the species called El Syhany, a tree of
[p.357] which addressed a loud "Salam Aleykum" to the Prophet, as he
passed under it. The Birny is esteemed the most wholesome, as it is
certainly the easiest of digestion: it was the favourite of Mohammed,
who advised the Arabs to eat seven of its fruit every morning before
breakfast. The Djeleby is the scarcest of them all: it is about three
inches in length, and one in breadth, and has a peculiarly agreeable
taste, although not so sweet as the Heleya.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 263 of 350
Words from 136868 to 137385
of 182297
