228 THE SOURCES OF MANNA. 



into loaves or cakes. These soon become of a black colour, owing to a kind 

 of fermentation produced by tbe influence of the air and moisture. Little 

 care is bestowed upon tbe collection of tbe manna, and bence it is always 

 mixed with a large proportion of broken leaves and branches, by which its 

 value is diminished. The odour of these manna loaves or cakes resembles 

 that of senna ; in taste also they resemble senna, combined with sweetness. 

 These two characters would lead us to suppose that this manna is more 

 purgative than nutritive. The manna should be collected, according to the 

 statements of travellers, in the morning, as the rays of the sun cause its 

 liquefaction. In many parts of the East it is used as a substitute for sugar. 

 Tournefort states that it is common on the Alhagis, in tbe environs of 

 Taurus, in Persia. At Bussorah the manna is collected on a small thorny 

 bush, also common in Khorasan, and called el hadsji. The Nepal alhagi is 

 also stated to afford this secretion. Some authors, as Halle and Guillemin, 

 supposed that this manna of the Alhagi maurorum was that which constituted 

 the manna of the Hebrews ; but at the present day it is more generally 

 supposed that the Lecanora affinis, Everem, was the substance upon which 

 the Israelites fed in the wilderness. 



A species of Australian Eucalyptus, named by Mr. Allan Cunningham 

 the E. mannifera, is met with in the cool regions of Argyle and Bathurst, 

 New South Wales, which produces the finest manna, and that in very con- 

 siderable abundance. It is found in flakes upon the grass, and also adhering 

 to the branches and trunks, and several pounds may often be collected in a very 

 short space of time. It must be looked for in the morning, as, should the sun 

 shine out strong, it gradually dissolves. Manna is one of the safest and almost 

 the only pleasant purgative we possess ; and it is only its scarcity and high 

 price that have prevented its coming into more general use. The average 

 price of manna is above 4s. per pound. It once was as high as 10s. 6d. 

 Here, then, is an excellent remunerating price for both the collector and 

 shipper ; and if these trees are found to produce it in sufficient quantity, I 

 see nothing likely to answer better than making plantations thereof at some 

 future period. Supposing each tree to produce half a pound of manna, 

 worth but 3s. per pound to the producer, there would be, with 160 trees to 

 the acre, a clear revenue of £12 per acre, at the expense of a few days 

 annual labour, besides having the benefit still of this acre throughout the 

 year for grazing. 



This Australian manna has been shown to contain a saccharine matter, 

 different from mannite, and, though similar to glucose, differing from it, as 

 well as from other varieties of sugar, in properties. Another manna found 

 in Australia is produced \>y exudation from the leaves of E. dumosa when 

 very small ; it sometimes appears spread over large districts of country, 

 hke a kind of snow, and is used by the natives as food. In Tasmania 

 manna is obtained in small quantities from the Eucalyptus Acervula, Seib., 

 after punctures by some insect. 



