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JOURNEY FROM 
with the tents of the Arabs who inhabit the place, give an appear- 
ance of cheerfulness and comfort to the scene which contrast renders 
doubly agreeable. 
The water which is found here, and which is excellent and plen- 
tiful, contributes at the same time in no small degree to increase 
the attractions of the place ; and though the claims of Zaffran might 
be humble, were it placed in a more favoured country, we may ven- 
ture to affirm that no traveller who reaches it will ever be disposed 
to analyze too minutely its pretensions to actual beauty. 
Zaffran is a place of some note in the district of Syrt ; it affords 
excellent pasturage, and furnishes large supplies of corn, wool, and 
manteca. The name which it bears would lead us to imagine that 
this place has been originally famous for its saffron ; Zaffran is the 
Arab term by which that plant is distinguished, and we know that 
the northern coast of Africa has been noted for the excellence of 
the saffron which it produced*. We could not, however, perceive 
any traces of the plant properly so called ; but the whole neighbour- 
hood of Zaffran is overspread with a species of crocus from which 
saffron might very possibly be extracted. 
The best saffron of our own times is that which is made from the 
crocus, by selecting the pistils and carefully drying them in a kiln ; 
and the colour of the plant which we saw was well calculated to 
suggest the idea that it might be usefully employed in a similar way : 
it is a bulb, with a flower somewhat larger than the crocus, and 
^ The saffron of the Gharian mountains has been described by Leo Africanus as the 
best in the world. 
