220 PRODUCTS.

in the year, but the leaves must be gathered off the vines, or all the sap will be exhausted by the foliage and tendrils, and no grapes will be formed.

Those which ripen in the month of August are very watery, those, on the other hand, which come to perfection at the end of December are very sweet. A great number of lime-trees are planted in the gardens, but the lemons are too small, have but little juice and acidity, and are quite exsiccated in a few days after they have been gathered from the trees. The orange tree produces no fruit, for it is not suited to the climate. Indian (cactus) and Syrian figs bear fruit, but not of the best quality. The same observation applies to other garden productions : they have not the flavour that might be expected, and do not in general attain their full size, for all plants form too much leaf to produce sound and good fruit.

Thus even onions are too sweet in taste, of small dimension, and without the slightest acridity. Salad is not to be met with. The water-melons, which are chiefly cultivated in Dar-Hammer, are not of an agreeable flavour. The fruit of the few date-trees to be seen in the province ripens during the rainy season, is, consequently, very watery, and will not keep for any time, like the dates of Egypt, but decomposes shortly after it is gathered. Sim -Sim is largely cultivated, whence the natives express an oil used in the i)re])aration of their pomatum ; for they never burn oil, and, if they wish to illuminate their tukkoli at night-time, light a wood-fire. Wheat