.416 



NATURAL HISTORY OP ARABIA. 



considerable quantities. They also prepare from mint a 

 syrup known by the name of dubs or debs, which they 

 find a lucrative article of commerce. 



The Banians have imported many fruit-trees from In- 

 dia, which have all become naturalized in their adopted 

 country ; such are the banana (Musa, Linn.), the man- 

 go (Mangifera indica, Linn.), the papaya (Carica papa- 

 ya, Linn.), a Cissus, an excellent counterpoison, the cocoa, 

 and the Indian fig-tree (Ficus religiosa). The singular 

 property that the latter possesses of propagating itself by 

 means of filaments shooting from its boughs, which take 

 root on reaching the ground and spring up into new 

 trunks, is well known. Forskal saw more than a dozen 

 species of fig-trees, not one of which are mentioned by 

 Linnaeus ; but their fruit was far from being agreeable, 

 and seldom eaten as food. The bark of one species was 

 used in tanning leather ; and the leaves of another were 

 so rough that they served for cleaning and polishing iron. 

 At Beit el Fakih he found some fine ornamental trees, 

 which he supposed to be of Indian origin ; but, as their 

 characteristics were different from those of any other 

 known species, he classed them in two new genera under 

 the names of Hyperanthera and Binectaria (Mimusops 

 obtusifolia of botanists). 



By far the most common and important of the palm 

 tribe is the date-tree, the fruit of which constitutes 

 the staple nourishment of the Arabs during the greater 

 part of the year. In Hejaz the places chiefly renowned 

 for this valuable production are the gardens of Medina, 

 and the valleys at Safra and Jedeida on the route to Mec- 

 ca. Almost every district, however, has its own variety, 

 which grows nowhere else. Burckhardt was informed that 

 upwards of a hundred different sorts grew in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of Medina ; and a native histo- 

 rian in his description of that city has enumerated one 

 hundred and thirty. The cheapest and most common kinds 

 are the jebeli, the heloua, the heleya, a very small date 

 not larger than a mulberry ; it has its name from its ex- 

 traordinary sweetness, in which it equals the finest figs 

 from Smyrna; and, like them, when dried is covered 

 with a saccharine crust. This was the date with which 

 Mohammed is alleged to have performed a very great 

 miracle, by planting a kernel in the earth, which instantly 

 took root, grew up, and in five minutes became a full- 



