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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



these does not exceed a large coriander seed in 

 size, and they have somewhat the appearance of 

 small lumps of mastic. Tournefort says that it is 

 chiefly gathered about Tauris, a city of Persia, 

 during great heats in that part of the world, but 

 it is indigenous over a large part of the East, 

 yielding manna, however, only in Persia, Bokhara, 

 Arabia and Palestine. Extensive plains are in 

 these countries covered with the camel's-thorn, 

 and it is of great importance as food for camels as 

 well as for sheep and goats. From the wounds 

 produced by the browsing of these animals, the 

 manna chiefly exudes. It is collected by the 

 Arabs and caravans which cross the desert, and is 

 used as food. It is gathered by shaking the 

 branches. This Alhagi does not appear to be 

 the same shrub as that which the traveller 



by the people often in preference to honey. In 

 the summer it is collected in large quantities 

 and put up for winter use. 



Another kind of manna is also gathered in the 

 Wilderness of Sin which appears to have more 

 points of resemblance with the manna of the 

 Israelites than either the edible lichen or the 

 saccharine exudations above referred to. This 

 substance exudes from the twigs of the tamarisk 

 (Tamarix gallica), figs. 2-4, a shrub or tree which is 

 distributed over a large part of the northern 

 hemisphere, especially near the shores of the 

 Atlantic and Mediterranean seas and those of West 

 Asia and North- West India, but which only yields 

 manna in the valleys of the Sinaitic Peninsula, 

 such as the Wady El Sheikh, the Wady Feiran, 

 Wady Gharundel and the Wady Taibe, this local 



5?^' 







Fig. 6. — CocctJS MANNIPARUS, Ehr. 



a and 6, drops of fallen manna; c, waxy vesicles, containing female pupa (magnified three times); d, section of 

 vesicle containing pupa of female (much magnified) ; e. and /, preliminary stage, underside and back (magnified thirty 

 times); g, female (preliminary stage) magnified. 



Wellsted found bearing manna in the Wady 

 Hebron, on his journey from Tor to Mount Sinai, 

 in September, 1836, "fifteen miles from the sea, 

 and at an elevation of about 2,000 feet." That 

 shrub was called " gavan," was about two feet 

 high, and bore a striking resemblance to the 

 broom. 



In Kurdistan, Dr. Wright found in one part of 

 the mountains great quantities of a sweet substance 

 on the leaves of certain trees, generally the oak 

 and gall-nut tree, and which is called "gezza" in 

 Kurdish, and "manna" in Syriac. It forms on 

 the leaves in such abundance that when they are 

 dried and pounded it comes off in scales, and is 

 collected and used as an article of food. When 

 melted and strained in order to separate the 

 crumbled leaves it is very delicious, and is eaten 



variety being known to botanists as T. gallica (man- 

 nifera). In the Wady Feiran, the valley in which 

 the Israelites are believed to have camped, and 

 which leads from the Gulf of Suez towards Mount 

 Sinai, the traveller passes through thick avenues of 

 these trees, which are called by the natives 

 " Turfeh " or "Tarffa" trees. They resemble a 

 weeping-birch, and are especially rich in sap. The 

 manna flows from the extremities of their slender 

 pensile boughs in drops, described by Lepsius as 

 sometimes as large as peas, sometimes no larger 

 than pin-heads. The exudation was ascertained 

 by Ehrenberg to be consequent upon the puncture 

 of the Coccus tnanniparus, Ehr., a kind of scale 

 insect or mealy-bug (fig. 6), which infests these 

 trees in spring and summer, and which is allied 

 to the cochineal insect (Coccus cacti), and the Coccus 



