FOREST-TREES. 413 



it is then pounded between two stones ; and by this means 

 the juice is expressed and absorbed by the cloth, which 

 imbibes a tint of a dirty blue colour. The rag, when dried 

 in the sun, ignites with the slightest spark of fire. 



In the same districts tobacco is raised in considerable 

 quantities, and forms a profitable branch of traffic. The 

 Towara tribes are all great consumers of this luxury ; and 

 whether they smoke or chew, they always mix it with 

 natron or salt. They draw their chief supply from Wady 

 Feiran, where its quality is very strong, and of the same 

 species as that grown on the other mountains of Petraea, 

 near Wady Mousa and Kerek, which retains its green co- 

 lour even when dry. Such is the currency which this com- 

 modity has acquired in trade, that the moud, or measure 

 of tobacco, forms the standard by which the Tebna Arabs 

 buy and sell minor articles among themselves.* Hemp, 

 as has been already observed, is cultivated and used as a 

 narcotic over all Arabia. The flowers, or small leaves 

 surrounding the seed, when mixed with tobacco, are call- 

 ed hashish ; and with this the common people fill their 

 pipes. The higher classes eat it in a jelly or paste called 

 maajoun, and made in the following manner : A quan- 

 tity of the leaves is boiled with butter for several hours, 

 and then put under a press until the juice exudes, which 

 is mixed with honey and other sweet drugs, and publicly 

 exposed for sale in shops kept for the purpose. The 

 hashish paste is politely termed bast (cheerfulness), and 

 the venders of it are called basti, or cheerful-makers. It 

 exhilarates the spirits, and excites the imagination as 

 powerfully as opium. Many persons of the first rank use 

 it in one shape or other ; and there are some who mix with 

 it seeds of the benj, which is brought from Syria. 



SECTION IV. TREES AND SHRUBS. 



Forests are neither common nor extensive in Arabia ; 

 they are only to be seen in the wadis, and where the hills 

 retain enough of earth for vegetation. In general, how- 



* A raoud, according to Burckhardt, is equal to 18 or 19 Ibs. 

 English ; 3^ rotolo (about 5.^ Ibs. each) make a moud, and 80 mouds 

 are a gharara. The rotolo or pound of Mecca contains 144 drachms ; 

 at Jidda it is nearly double. The erdeb is equivalent to about 15 

 English bushels. At Mecca it is divided into 50 keile or measures, 

 ana at Medina into 96. 



VOL. n. 2 c 



