to preclude any attempt at conversation, and we passed
out from this moral pest-house sick at heart as we thought of these
infatuated victims of self-indulgence and their starving families at
home. This baneful habit, once formed, is seldom given up, and
from three to five years' indulgence will utterly wreck the firmest
constitution, the frame becoming daily more emaciated, the eyes more
sunken and the countenance more cadaverous, till the brain ceases to
perform its functions, and death places its seal on the wasted life.

On "Araby's plains" I saw for the first time the beautiful wild palm,
the "lighthouse of the desert," always an object of intense desire to
the weary traveler as he traverses those sterile regions, for as it
looms up in the distance, sometimes in groups, but more generally
standing in solitary grandeur near a tiny bubbling spring, its waving
plumes tell him not only of shelter and needed rest, but of water also
to bathe his tired limbs and quench the burning thirst that oppresses
him almost to death. Should the friendly tree prove a date-palm, he
will find food also--a dainty repast of ripe, golden fruit, wholesome
and nourishing--ready prepared to his hand. But, after all, to a
traveler over those sterile regions water is the grand desideratum,
and this he is sure to find in the vicinity of the wild palm. The
Bedouins, who consider it beneath their dignity to sow or reap, gather
the date where they can find it growing wild; but the Arabs of the
plains cultivate the tree with great care and skill, thus improving
the size and flavor of the fruit, and producing some twenty or more
varieties. In some they have succeeded in doing away with the
seed altogether; and the seedless dates, being very large and
delicately-flavored, bring always the highest price in the market.
Date-honey is made by expressing the juice of the fresh fruit, and
the luxury of fresh dates may be enjoyed through the entire year
by keeping them in tight vessels, covered over with this honey.
Date-flour, made by exposing the ripe fruit to the heat of the sun
until sufficiently dry to be ground into fine powder, furnishes the
ordinary sustenance of the Arabs in their frequent journeys across the
deserts. This is food in its most condensed form, easily carried and
needing no cooking. It is simply moistened with a little water, and so
eaten. But the value of the date tree is by no means confined to the
fruit. An agreeable beverage, kno