AND LOWER EGYPT. 223 



foliage almost bare ; a very rough bark, and of a 

 deep brown ; long white prickles, with which it is 

 beset, give it a harsh and withered look, which 

 induce you to mistake it for one of those leafless 

 trees, and whose sap chilled by the frost, during 

 our winters, reduces to a state approaching death. 

 Very small flowers, white or tinged with yellow, 

 and almost without smell, are but ill qualified to 

 make up for what it wants in point of appearance 

 and foliage. This tree, which the Egyptians call 

 siinth, and not santh, as I observe most authors spell 

 it, will never then be reckoned among the number 

 of ornamental trees, but its usefulness will ever 

 make it considered as one of the most valuable. 

 Its wood, of a deep red colour, is hard, and ca- 

 pable of receiving a beautiful polish. Its seed, en- 

 closed in a husk very like that of a lupin, yields a 

 red colour, which is made use of in dying mo- 

 rocco. The goats are very fond of this fruit, 

 which, in the Arabian tongae, is called karat ; 

 pounded together with the husk before it comes to 

 maturity, it affords an astringent in pharmacy, 

 known by the denomination of essence of acacia. 

 But the gum which distils from the numerous cre- 

 vices of the bark of the acacia, or from incisions 

 made in the trunk and greater branches, is an ob- 

 ject of importance in commerce and manufactures, 

 in which great quantities of it are consumed. Ex- 

 cessive heat is requisite in the production of gum 



arabic. 



