184 



THE TAMARISK. 



of June it drops from the branches upon the 

 fallen twigs and leaves, which always cover the 

 ground beneath the tree in its natural state. 

 The manna is collected before sunrise, when it 

 is coagulated, but it dissolves as soon as the sun 

 shines on it. The Arabs clear away the leaves 

 and dirt, which adhere to it, boil it, strain it 

 through a coarse piece of cloth, and put it into 

 leathern skins. In this way they preserve it till 

 the following year, and use it as they do honey, 

 to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip 

 their bread into. I could not learn that they 

 ever made it into cakes or loaves. The manna is 

 found only in years when copious rains have 

 fallen ; sometimes it is not produced at all. It 

 never acquires that degree of hardness w^hich will 

 allow of its being pounded, as the Israelites are 

 said to have done with the manna with which 

 they were miraculously supplied, nor does it pos- 

 sess the same nutritive properties. Some travel- 

 lers suppose this substance to be the produce of 

 an insect which infests the Tamarisk. The quan- 

 tity collected is very trifling, perhaps not amount- 

 ing to five or six hundred pounds, even in seasons 

 when the most copious rains fall. It is entirely 

 consumed among the Bedouins, who consider it the 

 greatest dainty which their country aff*ords. The 

 harvest usually begins in June and lasts six weeks. 



We may infer from this account, that although 

 the bread from Heaven," supplied to the Israel- 

 ites, and the manna of the Tamarisk, are as dis- 

 tinct from each other as any substances can be, 

 there was just enough outward resemblance be- 

 tween them to account for the name of manna 

 being given to their new food, supposing that the 



