ACACIA. 3 



serve, that the Acacia-trees now so common in France 

 were brought to us from America, and do not afford this 

 gum ; and that which is called Acacia in the shops is the 

 inspissated juice of the Prunus spinosa, and comes to us 

 from Germany. These trees are neither higher nor larger 

 than our common willows, but they have very thin leaves, 

 and thorns. The Arabs gather the gum in the autumn, 

 without wounding the trees, for it flows spontaneously *." 



This account of their size is rather at variance with 

 the mention made of these trees by most travellers ; for 

 they are generally described as of a gigantic height and 

 prodigious bulk. The kind mentioned by Sir Archibald 

 Edmondstone is the Egyptian Acacia, or true Mimosa, 

 Mimosa vera, which is the species from which the gum 

 is obtained. Maximilian, and some other writers, speak 

 of the Acacia or Mimosa in general, without noting the 

 species. Probably the trees described by Thevenot were 

 young, or in a soil not favourable to their growth. The 

 Acacias he speaks of as having been brought to France 

 from America, are, doubtless, the Gleditsia^ or Locust- 

 trees afore-mentioned. 



Dr. Shaw describes the Acacia vera as the largest and 

 most common tree in the deserts of Arabia ; and sup- 

 poses it to be the shiltim wood, or shittah tree of the 

 scriptures. Mr. Bruce describes it as the tree of all 

 deserts from the northernmost parts of Arabia to the 

 extremity of Ethiopia. He says the gum is obtained by 

 making incisions with an axe. Some authors compare 

 the size of this tree with that of a large mulberry tree. 

 The acacia; vera; svcns of the ancients is supposed to 

 have been expressed from the unripe pods-f-. 



* Thevenot's Voyage du Levant, Part I. p. 818. 



t See Dr. Harris's Natural History of the Bible, p. 345. 



8 



