IfS On the Manna of tJiQ ScripiHU^cs* 



which i)ame the nations of the Kirghiz designate the Le(3anorq> e9cu^ 

 lentar 



Several ocpurrences of what is called a fall of manna are attri- 

 butable to the accumulation of the lichen, Lecayiora csculenta Au- 

 chev-doi,* observed in Persja in layers of nearly inches (0 m, '12 

 to m. 'IS) in thickness, He sent specimens, with the following 

 note, to ^Franco : — " In 1829, during the war between Persia and 

 Russia, there was a great famine in Oroomiah, south-west of the 

 Caspian. One day, during a violent wind, the surface of the coun- 

 try was covered by a lichen, which fell from heaven. The sheep imme- 

 diately attacked and devoured it eagerly, which suggested to the inha- 

 bitants the idea of reducing it to flour, and making bread of it, which was 

 found to be good and nourishing. The country people affirm, that 

 they had never seen this lichen before nor after this time." '^ Dur- 

 ing the siego of Herat (which is about 876 feet above the sea), more 

 recently, the papers mentioned a hail of manna which fell upon the 

 city, and served as fopd for the inhabitants.'' " A rain of manna 

 occurred, April 1846, in the district of Jenischehir, and formed a 

 layer three or four inches in thickness. It was of a greyish white 

 colour, rather hard, and irregular in form, inodorous and insipid." 



" Pallas observed it in the mountainous, arid, and calcareous por- 

 tion of the great desert of Tartary. M. Eversham collected it in the 

 steppe of the Kirghiz, to the north of the C^^spian Sea, where it is 

 cr|,lled semljenoi-chleb. M. Ledebour has observed it in the same 

 countries, but chiefly those which border on Altai and Bilezikdgi ; 

 saw it also in Anatolia, in 1845. Dr Leyeille gathered it in Crimea, 

 and Dr Guyon recently in Algeria." 



" It is found in irregular shaped bodies, varying in size from that 

 of a pin's head to a pea or small nut; and when seen in its proper 

 sites, has never been found attached to any support whatever. An 

 analysis of the Lecanora shews that there js no fecula in its compo- 

 sition." 



Wellsted, p. 49, " learned from a Jewish Jlabbi, that, on his 

 journey through the desert contiguous tO Damascus, far removed 

 from trees qv vegetation of any kind, a substance was deposited, 

 v.liich, from his description, in appearance, size, and flavour, accu- 

 rately resenibled the manna of the Scriptures. Similar testimony 

 was derive4 from several Bedouins." 



It may be remarked, in passing, that several writers have not he- 

 sitated to identify some of these species with the manna miraculously 

 supplied to the Israelites in the wilderness. They were obviously 

 acquainted with manna of some kind, from the fact that they named 

 tl^§ new substance from its resemblance to it. — American Journal 

 of S()ience and Arts, Second Series, vol. ii., No. 9, p. 350. 



* Relat. (Vun Voy. en Orient., vol. ii., p. 399. 



