42 CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



plant of the Desert ; but according to Belon, the Arabs make constant 

 use of the seeds, from a superstitious belief, That they are a preserva- 

 tive against Evil Spirits. 



As to the mhaon of Homer and Hesiod (a plant in all probability 

 not received from Egypt), the circumstance of the Greek word equally 

 signifying a sheep, seems to cover an allusion to the downy coating of 

 the quince (Cydonia vulgaris) . — The quince is distinctly mentioned by 

 Stesichorus (quoted by Athenoeus) ; and in a law of Solon, referred 

 toby Plutarch (Conjug. praecept. 1): the "malum "of Virgil seems 

 also to be the quince. I have uniformly found the quince succeeding 

 better than the apple in the Arab countries. 



The meaia of Homer, Hesiod, and Aristophanes, according to Sib- 

 thorp's account of the Greek usage, is the Fraxinus ornus. — Theophras- 

 tus states, that the "melia" and " boymelia" grow in Egypt : and the 

 F. ornus and F. elatior are enumerated by Clot-Bey and Figari among 

 the trees planted there in gardens. Seeds of the F. ornus, were seen 

 by Delile in the drug shops of Cairo. 



The Greek name meaja seems to imply a knowledge of the drug 

 manna, a product of one or more species of Fraxinus. — And Diodorus 

 Siculus xvii. 75, Curtius vi. 4, Polyamus iv. 3, 32, and Athena^us xi. 500, 

 expressly mention an oak-like tree that distils honey. Other plants, 

 however, besides the species of Fraxinus, yield manna. The "elaiomeli 

 of Palmyra" mentioned by Dioscorides, Pliny, and Paulus iEgineta, is 

 referred by Rhazes (De Angin. ix. 51) to this drug : and Rauwolf and 

 Tournefort ascertained, That the manna of the Arabs is chiefly pro- 

 cured from the Alhagi maurorum, an indigenous low shrubby plant 

 of the North African and Asiatic Desert. 



The oArr-A of Homer and Herodotus is by some writers referred to 

 the Latin "far" (already noticed); but the usage in certain parts of Italy 

 indicates the rye (Secale cereale). — The "secale" of Pliny, according 

 to Greek and French usage, is the rye. This is a grain of northern 

 climates; and though cultivated in Syria, Alpinus appears to be the 

 only modern traveller who has seen it in Egypt. 



Forskal found the Vicia sativa growing as a weed in Egypt, and 

 called "faurum;" a compound word which admits of being translated, 

 "the far of Rome or Constantinople." The zea of Homer and Xeno- 

 phon, according to Zalikoglous' account of the Greek usage, would 

 seem to be a species of Vicia or vetch ; and confusion may have arisen 

 from the practice in ancient times of sowing mixed crops. 



