File:Arabia- the cradle of Islam - studies in the geography, people and politics of the peninsula, with an account of Islam and mission work (1900) (14761503951).jpg

Identifier: arabiacradleofis00zwem (find matches)
Title: Arabia: the cradle of Islam : studies in the geography, people and politics of the peninsula, with an account of Islam and mission work
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Zwemer, Samuel Marinus, 1867-1952
Subjects: Missions -- Arabian Peninsula Islam Islam Arabian Peninsula Arabian Peninsula -- Description and travel Arabian Peninsula -- Missions
Publisher: New York Toronto : F. H. Revell
Contributing Library: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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an,but it attains to its greatest perfection in upper Egypt andMesopotamia. Some idea of the immense importance of thisone crop in the wealth of Mesopotamia may be gained fromthe statement of an old English merchant at Busrah, that theentire annual date-harvest of the River-country might conserva-tively be put at 150,000 tons. The date-tree consists of a single stem or trunk about fifty toeighty feet high, without a branch, and crowned at the summitby a cluster of leaves or palms that drop somewhat in theshape of a huge umbrella. Each of these palms has long lan-ceolate leaves spreading out like a fan from the centre stemwhich often attains a length of ten or even twelve feet. In awild state the successive rows of palms, which mark the annualgrowth of the tree, wither and contract but remain upon thetrunk, producing with every breath of wind the creaking sound The dates of Hassa and Oman may equal those of Busrah but the gar-dens are inferior and the quantity produced is not so large.
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THE RiyERCOUNTRY AND THE DATE-PALM 123 so often heard in the silence of the desert-night. But wherethe palms are cultivated the old stems are cut away as fast asthey dry and are put to many different uses. The trunk ofthe palm-tree therefore presents the appearance of scales whichenable a man, whose body is held to the tree by a rope noose,to climb to the top with ease and gather the fruit. At a dis-tance, these annual rings of the date-palm appear as a series ofdiagonal lines dividing the trunk. Palm-trees often reach theage of a hundred years. The date-palm is dioecious ; but inMesopotamia the pistilate-palms far exceed in number thestaminate. Marriage of the palms takes place every spring andis a busy time for the husbandman as it is no small task toclimb all the trees and sprinkle the pollen. Arabs have written books and Europeans have composedfables on the thousand different uses of the palm-tree. Everypart of this wonderful tree is useful to the Arabs in unexpectedways. To begin

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