NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 



Medicinal Plants. Vegetables were evidently the first 

 medicines ; and among all primitive nations a traditionary 

 knowledge of their virtues has been preserved. The Arabs 

 used them with a wonderful degree of success, though the 

 greater part of these simple remedies is a mystery to stran- 

 gers. It is unnecessary to describe plants belonging to such 

 well-known genera as Aloe and Euphorbia ; of the latter 

 the species are exceedingly numerous in Arabia. In hot 

 countries infested with venomous animals, the inhabitants 

 learn from experience what plants are salutary to man 

 by operating as counter-poisons ; among the Arabs these 

 from time immemorial have been held in the greatest 

 esteem. They appear, however, according to Forskal, to 

 be ignorant of the properties of the Ophiorrhiza (serpent- 

 root) which is very common on their hills; but they 

 highly value the evergreen Aristolochia, which they con- 

 sider not only as a remedy, but a preservative against 

 the bite of serpents. Whoever drinks a decoction of this 

 herb six weeks successively is fortified, in their opinion, 

 against all future danger from these noxious reptiles. It 

 is not improbable that jugglers., who in the East expose 

 themselves so daringly to be bitten by serpents, have re- 

 course to some such artificial protection. The prickly 

 caper is reckoned an excellent antidote against all kinds 

 of poisons. Senna (Cassia Senna, Linn.) and other sorts 

 of cassia, are prescribed in various diseases. Cassia fis- 

 tula or black cassia, is reckoned by the Arabian physici- 

 ans the best cure for cholera morbus, and other affections 

 of a similar nature, which in warm climates are peculiar- 

 ly dangerous. Though its favourite soil seems to be Upper 

 Egypt, it abounds on the opposite side of the Red Sea. 

 That which we call senna of Alexandria grows in the 

 territory of Abu-Arish ; the natives sell it at Mecca and 

 Jidda, whence it passes by way of Egypt to the Mediter- 

 ranean ports. There are several species ; and, judging 

 from the differently-shaped leaves, it would seem that 

 what is imported into Europe is not all the produce of the 

 same plant. The Bedouins of Sinai use coloquinticla, 

 which abounds in all the wadis of that peninsula, in sy- 

 philitic complaints. They fill the bulb with camel's milk, 

 roast it over the fire, and then administer to the patient 

 the contents thus impregnated with the essence of the 

 fruit. They likewise manufacture it into tinder, which 

 is done by the following process. After roasting the root 

 in the ashes, they wrap it in a wetted rag of cotton cloth ; 



