of the tarfa, the gharrab, or the talk tree. These gums are collected only for about a month in the year; they do not admit of being ground in a handmill, nor baked; they are not subject to putrefaction if kept; nor are they peculiar to the Petræan wilderness: besides, the constant and daily supply in a desert, often barren of all vegetation, must have been impossible, except on the supposition that the trees accompanied them on their march. Whatever the manna was, it was obviously a substitute for food, and the peculiarities connected with its regular continuance, its corruption, and periodical suspension, are facts not less extraordinary than the mysterious nature of the substance itself. It is in vain to attempt any explanation of these phenomena by natural causes. A sceptical philosophy may succeed in reconciling preternatural appearances with its own notions of probability, but this gives not a particle of additional evidence to the credibility of the sacred narrative. The whole miracle, as related by Moses, admits but of one solution the interposition of a Divine power. As for local traditions or modern practices, these are unsafe guides in matters of history, much less can they be admitted as authorities in support of revealed truth."-We have dwelt thus long on this subject, because it is one intimately connected with the sacred record, on which various opinions have been held. Gum-arabic is also a production of Arabia, and hence its name. Burckhardt asserts that it is the produce of the talk, or gum-arabic tree; and that the camels of the Bedouins are fed on its branches, of which they are extremely fond. It is collected in summer, and exported to Grand Cairo in Egypt. The same traveller, however, asserts that he found acacia trees thickly covered with gum. Honey is produced in various districts of Arabia, and is greatly used in cooking. The mountains near Safra are described as " swarming with bees, of which the Bedouins take possession by placing wooden hives upon the ground. This honey is of the finest quality, white,

and clear as water. There is another kind of honey, called beyrouk by the Arabs, and which Burckhardt supposed to be manna. "It was described to him," says our author, "as a juice dropping from the leaves and twigs of the gharrab tree, about the height of an olive, with leaves like those of the poplar, only somewhat broader. The honey is sweet when fresh, but turns sour when kept for two days. It is gathered in May and June, either from the leaves, on which it collects its dew, or from the ground under the tree. The colour is brownish, or rather of a grey hue."

Of the flowers, plants, and shrubs of Arabia, we merely offer a few condensed notices; for it is to be observed, that owing to the aridity and parched state of the soil, the scarcity of water, and the variable climate of this singular peninsula, the inquiries of the curious on these subjects are exceedingly limited. In Arabia various specimens of the sensitive plant are found, which produce splendid flowers of a beautiful red hue, and of which chaplets are made on festive occasions. The gardens at Tayf are celebrated for their roses, which, for their loveliness and fragrance, are collected and sent to all parts of the country. There is a pretty red flower called the nooman, found in the valleys and among the cliffs of rocks; and many interesting botanical discoveries could doubtless be made among the Arabian valleys in general. There are numerous specimens of lavender, lilies, marjoram, and pinks. The rose of Jericho flourishes also in Arabia, and is collected and preserved with great care on account of the healing qualities it is supposed to possess. All the flowers which are common to India grow in Arabia; many of the European flowers are also found, and others solely peculiar to the country, the botanical designations of which, for the most part fanciful, it is unnecessary here to insert. On the western part of the Desert, some rivulets descending into the Red Sea diffuse verdure, and here many Indian and Persian flowers and plants, transported in former

ages, are found, distinguished for their beauty and their use in an indigenous state. Here grow in perfection the liquorice and the tamarind. There are numerous plants found which are used by the Arabs for medicinal and domestic purposes, some of them affording an alkaline salt for whitening linen, and are thus a substitute for soap; others they burn into charcoal; others again are used for the purposes of dyeing; and there is abundance of the common kali on the coasts, and in the Islands of the Red Sea. We are told, however, that "there is one plant which, though not a native of Arabia, deserves to be noticed, as it serves a very important commercial purpose, both in that country and Egypt. It is a grey-coloured herb called schabe, an infusion of which, mixed with a certain quantity of meal, forms a leaven for the fermentation both of bread and beer. This is considered essential to the process of brewing, and it communicates an agreeable taste to the liquor." This useful plant, upon examination, was found to be a lichen of the plum-tree, of which shiploads were in former times imported from the Archipelago into Egypt. Among the medicinal plants we may notice tobacco, which is raised in great quantities, and forms a source of considerable wealth. The Arabs have various modes both of smoking and chewing this plant. Senna is found in great abundance, and the cassia fistula, or black cassia, is reckoned by the Arabian physicians the best cure for cholera morbus. They have also various plants, peculiar to all hot countries infested with serpents and other reptiles, which are antidotes to their poison. As it respects the Arabian shrubs, they are very imperfectly known to Europeans, and many of them are found in no other country. The names assigned to them by the passing traveller are simply those given by the natives, and they have never been classified in a botanical manner. Those shrubs are also used by the Arabs for a variety of purposes. But Arabia is chiefly celebrated for its balessan, or balsam of Mecca, the Balm of Gilead

mentioned in Scripture. The tree from which it is collected is said to grow from ten to fifteen feet high, having a smooth trunk and thin bark. "In the middle of summer," says the writer, "small incisions are made in the rind; from these the juice immediately issues, which is then taken off with the thumb nail, and put into a vessel. The gum appears to be of two kinds, one of a white colour, which is most esteemed, the other of a yellowish white." The Arabs have a thorny shrub called gharkad, which produces a small red berry resembling a gooseberry in taste, and is described as being peculiarly delicious in the Deserts. In addition to these they have the henna-tree, the leaves and odoriferous flowers of which, formed into a pomatum, are used by ladies for staining the face and hands; the liquorice shrub, the rose laurel, the cotton-tree, the incense-tree, and all those plants and shrubs which produce myrrh, cassia, spikenard, and other valuable commodities, and which formed the staple trade of the ancient Arabians during the scripture times. The coffee-tree, of the produce of which the Arabs are extravagantly fond, is so well known throughout Europe, that it requires no particular description in the present work. The Arabians have various modes of preparing it, and it forms the universal beverage of many districts of the country.

The mountains of Arabia are for the most part craggy, precipitous, and sterile, but in the vicinities there are finely cultivated and fertile grounds. The chain which traverses the country from north to south is alleged by travellers to be a continuation of Lebanon in Palestine. Their lofty summits, towering to the clouds when seen at a distance, and having a volcanic appearance, dwindle into mere hills, rising in various grotesque forms, when approached in the interior. Their perpendicular sides are composed of calcareous rocks, sandstone, flint, porphyry, and strata of greenstone. The mountains of Oman, which stretch to the sea, are supposed to be a continuation of the opposite range of the Persian Gulf. In

the province of the Hedjaz there is a ridge called the Gazvan, the lofty summit of which is clothed with perpetual snow. Between the Gulfs of Suez and Arabia are the celebrated mountains of Horeb and Sinai, subsequently described in their proper order. There are various hot 'springs among these mountains, some of which have been described by travellers. The most remarkable of these, at present known, are the Ayoun Mousa, or the Wells of Moses, and the Hammam Faroun, or Baths of Pharaoh, the latter being described by those who have seen it as extremely hot.

The mineralogy of Arabia is of little importance; and the treasures which, according to the ancients, were extracted from the bowels of the earth in the province of Yemen, in Arabia Felix, have long since disappeared. No gold is now to be found, nor are any veins of silver known to exist; but a small quantity of that metal is extracted from the lead mines of Oman. In the northern district of Yemen, called Saade, there are some mines of iron, the produce of which is brittle. There are no precious stones, all these having been anciently brought from India. Yemen, however, produces onyxes; and a kind of sardonyx is found near Damar, and stones of less value are by no means rare. The rocks of Mount Sinai contain jasper, amethyst, and syenite. There are mines of copper in Oman, and veins of sulphur have been observed near Mecca. Rock salt exists in various districts; but in general it may be said that Arabia possesses few objects of attraction to the mineralogist.

The Arabian peninsula possesses no rivers and inland lakes. Those streams termed rivers by some travellers, are merely torrents flowing from the mountains during the rainy season; which, it is well ascertained, never reach the sea, being swallowed up in the sandy plains they in vain endeavour to penetrate. Those which continue to flow during the dry season are paltry brooks, a few of which find their way to the Indian Ocean. Some geographers have maintained that

the Euphrates and the Tigris are Arabian rivers; but certainly the Tigris has no connection with the country, and a very small portion of the Euphrates encircles Arabia. The want of water is indeed one of the greatest scourges of the Arabian peninsula, and is most severely felt by the inhabitants. To this great deprivation are to be attributed all the sterility and desolation which prevail, for agriculture is impeded or improved by it wherever it is wanting or obtained. Water is often found in deep wells, though sometimes it is of a brackish or bitter taste. Every reader of sacred history will recollect the sufferings of the Children of Israel, while journeying through the Deserts for want of this essential article-in Arabia a luxury of life—and of the manner in which a famous miracle was wrought when they were in open rebellion. Water is sold to strangers on their journey, and is often carried to great distances on the backs of camels. “Among the Arabs,” observes a writer often quoted, "water constitutes a great part of their wealth. It is the most valuable property in districts of fifty or a hundred miles round. The possession of a spring has occasioned hot disputes, and even civil wars. We read of Abraham rebuking Abimelech, because of a well which his servants had violently taken away; and of the strife between the herdsmen of Gerar and those of Isaac. It is also mentioned as an instance of intolerable tyranny in one of the ancient Arab kings, that he would suffer no camels but his own to be watered at the same place." From this circumstance, those animals which browse in watered fields and pastures do not exist in perfection in Arabia: but the zoology of the country is nevertheless interesting, although it differs little from that of other Eastern regions, with most of the animals of which the reader is familiar. The wild animals, generally found in the Arabian mountains, are lions, leopards, panthers, lynxes, wolves, foxes, boars, antelopes, domestic animals in a wild state, such as dogs and cats, jackals, the ox, and numerous species of monkeys. The

wild boars are very numerous, but they are rarely seen in the heart of the Desert. The small panther is generally prevalent, but it seldom ventures to attack man; the jackals abound in the mountains, and the ferocious hyæna inhabits Arabia Petræa, and the shores of the Persian Gulf. Monkeys without tails are numerous in the forests of Yemen, in Arabia Felix, which, on account of their docility, are caught and exported into Egypt, Syria, and Persia, where they are bought by itinerant jugglers for the amusement of the people. The beautiful animal called the gazelle abounds in the plains and valleys. It is the source of sport to the Arabs of the Desert for hunting, and its flesh supplies them with food. The northern tribes of Arabia possess numerous flocks of goats and sheep, but there is nothing very particular in the breed. The sheep have not the fat tails peculiar to those of other countries, and their ears are longer than those of Great Britain. The male lambs or kids are sold or slaughtered, except a few kept for breeding. The goats are chiefly black, with long ears. The ewes and goats are milked every morning and evening during the spring months. Rock goats, perfectly wild, are found in the mountainous regions, especially among the cliffs of Sinai, where they are hunted by the Bedouins. Their flesh is said to be excellent, resembling the flavour of venison. They are extremely difficult to be taken, especially among the mountains, and the Bedouins make long circuits to surprise them. Their skins are made into water-bags, and their long knotty horns are sold to merchants, who carry them to Jerusalem, where they are manufactured into handles for knives and daggers. Hares are numerous in Arabia, and they are hunted with great dexterity, being knocked down by small sticks or clubs. On account of the prohibition respecting eating the blood of animals, which is as strict among the Moslems as it is among the Jews, the more rigid among the Mahometans will not eat them until they have been made lawful, a ceremony performed

by cutting the throat of the hare with its neck turned towards the holy city of Mecca. Travellers mention various wild animals peculiar to Arabia, of which they received very imperfect accounts from the natives. The jerboa, or Pharaoh's rat, is found in the sandy deserts, and on the banks of the Euphrates an animal of curious construction, leaping and bounding like the kangaroo when pursued. The Arabs eat its flesh, which is said to taste like that of a young rabbit. The civet cat, the beyoar goat, the musk rat, and other animals valuable for the purposes of commerce, are found among the mountains.

Among the domestic animals of the Arabians are their famous horses, their mules, asses, camels, dromedaries, cows, buffaloes, dogs, and sheep and goats, already mentioned. The Arabian horse is celebrated throughout the world as the noblest animal of its species; and the war-steed is magnificently described in the Book of Job: "His neck is clothed with thunder, and the glory of his nostrils is terrible; he paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he mocketh at fear, neither turneth he back from the sword: he swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, and smelleth the battle afar off." The Arabian horses are divided into two great classes, the kohayl, or kohani, which the Arabs commonly subdivide into five races or genealogies, whose descent has been carefully preserved from the days of Solomon, that monarch having been presented with a stud by the Queen of Sheba, and are kept exclusively for riding; and the ka dishi, an inferior race, whose descent is unknown, and are chiefly employed for the purposes of labour. It is unnecessary to give a description of the Arabian horse as that animal exists in its native country, such descriptions being numerous in various works of easy access to the inquiring reader. "The care and affection," says a writer, "which the Arabs, and especially the Bedouin Arabs, bestow in breeding and rearing it, and the decided predilection with which it is constantly regarded, are founded not

merely on its utility to them in their predatory and wandering life, but also on ancient prejudice, which induces them to consider horses as being endowed with generous sentiments, and an intelligence superior to other animals. They suppose that these spirited creatures, so service able in the cause of Islam, have obtained through Mahomet the blessing of God, and an occult capacity to read and repeat tacitly every day some verses of the Koran. It was one of their old proverbs, that after man, the most eminent creature is the horse: the best employment is that of rearing it; the most delightful pastime is that of sitting on its back; the most meritorious of domestic actions that of feeding it. They were taught by their prophet to believe that it was originally predestined for their special service. Its purity of blood and descent the Bedouins are extremely careful to preserve uncontaminated. During twenty days, at a certain season, the mare must be watched to secure her from the approaches of any common horse, which she is not allowed to see even at a distance, for the Arabs are believers in the effects of imagination on the progeny of their cattle." These horses are capable of enduring the greatest fatigue, and can pass whole days without food. They are generally neither large, nor particularly beautiful, but are remarkable for their docility and swiftness. In his wars and inroads of the Desert, the Arab soldier, whether pursuing or pursued, trusts solely to the speed of his horse, and whenever it feels the touch of his hand or heel, the animal darts with the velocity of the wind. If the rider be dismounted, his horse will patiently halt until he recovers his seat; if he fall in battle, or by an enemy, his horse will remain near him, neighing and pawing for assistance. There are two species of asses in Arabia, which Buffon maintains was the original country of the ass now domesticated in Europe. They are used for a variety of purposes in Arabia, and other countries of the East. They are capable of enduring great fatigue in journeys, and in that

capacity, according to some travellers, are preferable to horses.-But the most useful animal to the Arab in their country is the camel, appropriately termed the ship of the desert, so well known as to require no particular description. It is chiefly distinguished from the dromedary by its superior swiftness. The Arabian camels and dromedaries have only one hump on their backs, like those of Egypt. Without these animals, in vain would the Deserts be traversed, or the necessaries of life furnished for a great proportion of the inhabitants of Arabia. They can endure the greatest hardships, being provided by nature with the means of retaining water in their stomachs to allay their thirst in the sandy deserts. They are content with the scantiest fare -a bunch of dry grass, or the stunted shrubs of the wilderness. No pain provokes them to refuse their loads, or to throw them upon the ground. Although overcome with hunger and fatigue, they will spend their last breath in their master's service, and leave their bones to whiten in the Desert.-Arabia is unfavourable, from the cause repeatedly mentioned, for the production of horned cattle. The cows and oxen are distinguished by a hump or bunch of fat on their backs, similar to those of Egypt and Nubia. The cow yields little milk, and the flesh of the ox is described as insipid and tasteless. Cows are used in some districts for drawing water from the wells, and for other purposes. Buffaloes are found in marshy parts, but this animal appears to be as rare as those parts are in Arabia in which alone he can exist. There are various kinds of dogs in a domestic state, but they are held in no repute, and are not allowed to enter houses, on account of their being declared unclean in the Koran.

The fertile provinces of Arabia produce poultry in abundance-hens, ducks, geese, and turkeys. The guinea-fowl inhabits the woods in great numbers; the pheasant, and various species of the pigeon tribe, abound in the Yemen; and in the plains are seen the partridge, the