NATURAL HISTORY OP ARABIA. 391 



CHAPTER IX. 



Natural History of Arabia. 



Want of Information on the Natural History of Arabia Scientific 

 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 MINERALOGY No Gold or Silver Mines 

 in Arabia Precious Stones BOTANY Vegetables Plants 

 Coloquintida Tobacco Hemp TREES AND SHRUBS Fruit- 

 trees The Palm Date-groves Manna Gum-Arabic Honey 

 SHRUBS The Nebek Tamarisk Balsam of Mecca The 

 Gharkad Henna Acacia Incense-tree Coffee ZOOLOGY 

 Wild Animals H yenas Monkeys Rock -goats H ares Jer- 

 boas Domestic Animals Cows Buffaloes Asses Horses 

 Camels Dromedaries Sheep Goats Dogs Mice Birds 

 Poultry Birds of Game Birds of Prey The Ostrich The 

 Lapwing The Samarraan Field-sports of the Arabs Reptiles 

 Tortoises Scorpions Serpents Fishes Insects The Lo- 

 cust Ants Teneoriones Shells Coral Banks. 



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 ce- 

 lebrated of its mineral and vegetable productions. Several 

 useful observations, not indeed referring peculiarly to that 

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

 Belon, Pauw, Rau wolf, and Tournefort. Shaw and Hassel- 

 quist were both distinguished for their attainments in phy- 

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

 for that systematic arrangement or accuracy of description 

 which modern philosophy has introduced into every de- 

 partment of natural knowledge. It is to the Danish travel- 

 lers, Niebuhr and his companions, who have done so much 

 to illustrate the geography, manners, and civil institutions 

 of Arabia, that we are indebted almost exclusively for 

 whatever is known in Europe of its minerals, animals, and 

 plants. 



That literary expedition, which owed its formation to 



