Foreign Vegetables. 411 
not well refined, but of a gray or afhy Colour, fuch 
as we now find in Mufcovade \ it is reafonable to 
fuppofe that this Colour impofed upon them, and 
made them miftake the Sugar for Afhes *, not that 
it had been burnt, but had fuffered the Action 
of the Fire or had been boiled, wherein it differed 
from the native Sugar of the Ancients, which flow- 
ed fpontaneoufly. However, this I only beg leave 
to conje&ure without afferting. 
3 . Zuccar or Sac char Alhufar of Avicenna , Alhaf- 
fer of Serapio^ which is alfo called Manna , differs 
from the foregoing Species of Sugar both in Tafte 
and Virtues. Avicenna fays, it is good for the Eyes, 
Lungs, Stomach, Liver, Kidneys, Bladder, and 
ferviceable in the Dropfy ; and likewife that it oc- 
cafions no Thirft like the other Sorts of Sugar, be- 
caufe it has but little Sweetnefs in its Tafte, and 
withal fomething faline and bitterifb. 
This Sugar is not to be met with in our Shops ; 
neverthelefs it is no Stranger in Egypt and Arabia ; 
fince it is the Tear of an Egyptian Plant, called Beid 
el ojfar , Profp . Alpin. de plantis AEgypt. 86. Apocy- 
num erectum , incanum , latifolium AEgyptiacum, floribus 
croceis , Herman . Par ad. Bat. Apocynum jEgyptiacum 
laftefcens , Siliqud Afclepiadis , C. B. P. 303. Beidelfar 
Alpini^ five Apocynum Syriacum , J. B. 11. 136. The 
Egyptians ufually call this Tree Ojfar , and its Fruit, 
which is as thick as one’s Fill and oblong, they 
term Beid el Ojfar , that is, the Egg of OJjar . It 
grows in feveral moift marfliy Places near the Banks 
of xhtNile. 
The common Sugar now ufed with us differs only 
according to the Degrees of its Purity, it being all 
extracted from the Sugar-Cane, named Arundo Sac - 
charifera , C. B. P. 4. Sloane Hijl . natur. Inful. Jamaic . 
fol. 108. lab. 66 . Arundo Sac char ina, J. B. 2. 531. 
Arundo £2? Calamus Sac char inus^ T abern. Icon. 257. 
Canna 
