'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎288] (329/360)

288 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
ready for gathering, and hung on the long stalks in all
shades of gold and red. It was too luscious at this stage
to be eaten in any quantity, reminding me of nothing so
much as of masses of compressed honey, and melting into
a sweet syrup in the mouth; but a spell of hot weather in
September, called the khorma pus (cooking of the date),
would ripen it completely.
Date-boxes were coming up to Busreh by every vessel,
unwieldy ' ditchers' and £ tanks' bringing big cargoes from
Norway, the tops, bottoms, and sides done up in uniform-
sized bundles, to be nailed together on arrival. A knocking
and hammering resounded from the wharves in front of
the houses belonging to the different firms, and everything
was being made ready for the date harvest, which would
be picked and packed about the middle of September.
There are many different varieties and qualities of fruit;
but the crop of one of the best trees is worth about twelve
rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. .
The merchants ply up and down the Shat-el-Arab, or
encamp in the date-gardens, as they are called, to super
intend the harvesting of the fruit. The long stalks are
broken off the trees by their Arab proprietors, and the
dates shaken into big receptacles, which are carried into
matting shelters to be properly packed in neat wooden
boxes. The Arab children are the best and quickest
packers, and the women come next. Some of the old
folk are very slow and stupid, but it would not do to
turn them off, for they would most certainly take their
whole clan with them if their feelings were ruffled by
dismissal.
Some of the dates are pressed in a mass into bags of
palm-leaf matting, and all are sent in steamers direct to