NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 349 



CHAPTER IX. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA 



Want of Information on the Natural History of Arabia — Scien- 

 tific Discoveries of the Danish Travellers — Geology — Mount 

 Sinai — Hills of Hejaz and Yemen — Volcanic Rocks — Hot 

 Springs — Soil— Agriculture — Crops — Harvest — Comparative 

 Fertility of different Districts — IVIineralogy — No Gold or 

 Silver Mines in Arabia — Precious Stones — Botany — Vegeta- 

 bles — Plants — Coloquintida — Tobacco — Hemp — T r E e s and 

 Shrubs — Fruit-trees — The Palm — Date-groves — Manna — 

 Gum-arabic — Honey — S hrubs —The Nebek — Tamarisk — 

 Balsam of Mecca — The Gharkad — Henna — Acacia — Incense 

 Tree — Coffee — Zoology — Wild Animals — Hyenas — Mon- 

 keys — Rock-goats — Hares — J erboas — Domestic Animals — 

 Cows — Buffaloes — Asses — Horses — Camels — Dromedaries- 

 Sheep — Goals — Dogs— Mice— Birds — Poultry— Birds of Game 

 — Birds of Prey — The Ostrich — The Lapwing — The Samar- 

 man — Field sports of the Arabs — Reptiles — Tortoises— Scor- 

 pions — Serpents — Fishes — Insects — Tne Locust — Ants — Te- 

 nebriones — Shells — Coral Bariks. 



As few travellers comparatively have visited Arabia, it 

 cannot be supposed that its natural history has been very 

 minutely investigated. The knowledge of the ancients on 

 this subject was extremely imperfect, consisting chiefly of 

 fabulous or exaggerated reports as to some of the more cele- 

 brated of its mineral and vegetable productions. Several 

 useful observations, not indeed referring peculiarly to that 

 country, occur in the works of Kaempfer, Bochart, Norden, 

 Belon, Pauw, Rauwolf, and Tournefort. Shaw and Hassel- 

 quist were both distinguished for their attainments in physi- 

 cal science ; but the reader will look in vain in their works 

 for that systematic arrangement or accuracy of description 

 which modem philosophy has introduced into every depart- 

 ment of natural knowledge. It is to the Danish travellers, 

 Niebuhr and his companions, who have done so much to illus- 

 trate the geography, manners, and civil institutions of Arabia, 



Vol. II.— Gg 



