70 



Visit to Mount Sinai. 



[No. 33, 



the branches. The leaves and stems have a salt taste which appears 

 to be relished by the camels. This saline secretion renders it impro- 

 bable that the manna should be an exudation from this plant, and if 

 obtained must be, as Ehrenberg is of opinion, the secretion of an 

 insect, a sort of Coccus. 



The Arabs say that it is found on and under the tree and got us a 

 pot of it in rather an impure liquid state at Mount Sinai. 



Date trees are seen in the middle and upper parts of Wadi Hebron, 

 from them and the date trees of Tor a pleasant " araJci" is distilled 

 by the Greeks and quaffed with much gusto in the convent. 



The trailing kandhal colocynth, with its orange coloured fruit 

 fair to look upon but full of bitterness within, like the apples of the 

 Dead Sea is occasionally seen hugging the sands. 



Shaik Salih our Arab guide seeing me gather one of these bitter 

 apples hastily ran towards me, thinking of course that I was about 

 to eat it, and snatched it away : but presently returned with a fine 

 bunch of harrCr in full yellow blossom ; the green leaf jis much re- 

 lished for its pleasant sub-acid taste (like sorrel) and used by Arabs 

 to quench their thirst. He begged me earnestly to partake of his 

 prize which I did and found it allay thirst to a great degree. The 

 name in Arabic jj^^ signifies also a tamarind. 



In the pools of Wadi Hebron grows the rush sumar, the flag 

 hhuhba, and the cotton podded shiah, the ghissaneah^ the balsamic 

 ghillano, [mesemhryanthemum co^ticum,'] and beitharan^ {santolina 

 frac/rantissima of Forskal) the broom ratham, {genista raetum) 

 loved by camels. The balsamic yellow flowered yarra and the 

 stately lehaid^ 10 feet high, we saw in Wadi Hawa near Abu Saili. 

 It reminded me of the hollyhock. 



The heitharan is abundant on the plain of Er Rahah ; it smells like 

 camomile and also the bitter rhum. We saw a wild fig tree near a 

 well in Abu Saili. The ghurkind {nitraria tridentata) with its 

 pleasant acidulous red berries, grows in Wadi Hebron. Our Arabs 

 declared it is not used by them in sweetening bitter water. The 

 camels browse on this thorn. 



On the plain near Tor a few dates and palms, chiefly at the wadiy 

 break the sterility of the flat sand. The nehh and doum are seen in 

 the interior. 



The temperature of the wells at Hammam near this I found 90** 

 5^ at the surface and 91*^ 6^ where the water bubbles up from the 



