The field, the garden and the woodland, or, Interesting facts respecting flowers and plants in general . arid district, called the Land of Dates, thefew vegetables that can be found are of the mostdwarfish description. No plants arise to form thevariety of food to which we are accustomed, andthe natives of these districts live almost exclu-sively upon the fruit of the Date tree. A paste ismade of this fruit by pressing it in large paste is not used for present supply, butis intended for a provision in case of a failureof the crops of dates, which sometimes occurs,owing to the rava
The field, the garden and the woodland, or, Interesting facts respecting flowers and plants in general . arid district, called the Land of Dates, thefew vegetables that can be found are of the mostdwarfish description. No plants arise to form thevariety of food to which we are accustomed, andthe natives of these districts live almost exclu-sively upon the fruit of the Date tree. A paste ismade of this fruit by pressing it in large paste is not used for present supply, butis intended for a provision in case of a failureof the crops of dates, which sometimes occurs,owing to the ravages committed by locusts. The date, in its natural state, forms the usualfood; and the juice yielded by it when fresh con-tains so much nutriment as to render those wholive upon it extremely fat. As by the Moors,great corpulence is esteemed an indispensablerequisite of beauty, the ladies belonging to thefamilies of distinction among them nourish them-selves during the season solely with the fresh fruit,and by continuing this regimen during two orthree months become of an enormous size. DATE PALM. 65. 66 DATE PALM. The Date palm flourishes very generally onsandy soils in the hot countries of Asia andAfrica. Not always, however, is the soil thatsupports it barren as the one I have is very frequently found by streams, and as thetired traveller sees its foliage waving afar, hehastens towards it, hoping to find a stream ofwater. Sometimes its tall stem is surrounded bybeautiful chmbing plants, and the most brilliantflowers flourish beneath its shadow. This Palm frequently attains the height ofsixty feet, and stands perfectly upright; unlikein this respect some other species of Palm,whose slight forms yield to the wind. It wasto this tree that the Psalmist alluded, when hesaid, The righteous shall grow as the Palmtree — firm and unmoved by the shocks oftemptation and the storms of adversity. Theclusters of dates are sometimes five feet in length,and when ripe they are
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