352. Notices of Koordistan. 
“Ehrenberg and Bové described the ‘Manna Tamarisk,’ 
which is abundant throughout Arabia, and even found on Sinai, 
nine hundred feet above the sea. ‘The women and children col- 
lect this, which flowed from the branches of these trees. The 
Arabs clarify the manna by dissolving it in warm water, and 
making a syrup, the taste of which is equal to that of the best 
honey.” 
Under the word “manna,” in the Dict. Univ. d’Hist. Nat., 
Paris, 1846, is mentioned ‘a stunted, spinous shrub—Hedysarum 
alhagi, Linn., Alhagi Maurorum, Tourn.—as growing in the des- 
erts of Arabia and Persia, upon which is gathered a white, concrete 
juice, which is called mannaalhagi. Olivier, on his return from 
Turkey, brought to France several pounds of this substance, 
which, according to Niebuhr, is used in Persia instead of sugar. 
in pastry, &e.” 
. “Mr. Lindley* has recently pointed out an oak, Quercus man- 
nifera, from the leaves of which also drops a sweet substance, 
which seems to have been mentioned under the name ehelber, by 
Olivier. This name, which is applied by the hordes of Korassan 
and Little Tartary, to a nutritious substance which falls on the 
ground, it is easy to see approaches. very nearly to that of Semil- 
jenoi-chleb, by which name the nations of the Kirghiz designate 
the Lecanora esculenta.” 
“Several occurrences of what is called a fall of manna, are 
attributable to the accumulation of this Lichen, Lecanoraesculenta. 
Aucher-eloit observed it in Persia in layers of nearly four inches 
(Om. ‘12 to Om. -13) in thickness. He sent specimens, with t 
flour and making bread of it, which was found to | 
nourishing. ‘The country people affirm that they had never seen 
this lichen before nor after that time.’”’ ‘During the siege of 
Herat, (which is about eight hundred and seventy-six feet above 
the sea,) more recently the papers mentioned a hail of manna, 
which fell upon the city, and served as food for the inhabitants.” 
“ A rain of manna occurred April, 1846, in the district of Jenis- 
chehir—the government of Wilna—on the grounds of M. 'Tizen- 
hauz, and formed a layer three or four inches in thickness. It 
was of a greyish-white color, rather hard, and irregular in form, 
inodorous and insipid.” r 
iets as lala 
* Révue Hort., as already cited. 
t Relat. d'un Voy. en Orient, vol. ii, p. 399. 
