HISTORICAL NOTES ON MANNA. 
327 
of a plant, but that it is of the nature of dew and falls from the sky, is very 
ancient, and still lingers in the East. In the case of the manna-ash, it was dis¬ 
proved by the Franciscan monks Angelus Palea and Bartholomseus ab Urbe 
Yetere, who relate how they caused some of the trees to be covered with sheets, 
so that nothing could fall upon them ; and that notwithstanding this precaution, 
manna was produced as before. 1 But this reasonable conclusion was regarded as 
scarcely orthodox, and the learned Matthioli was at much pains to supply an 
explanation more, as he thought, in accordance with Scripture. 
The special point however which I desire to discuss in this paper relates to 
the period at which ash-manna began to be collected. Manna is mentioned 
more or less particularly by most of the Arabian physicians with whose works 
we are acquainted, but the allusions are all to Oriental manna and not to that 
of Italy or Sicily. This is manifest from the writings of Ebn Beitliar 2 , one of 
the most eminent and learned men of his time and a great traveller ; and who 
being a native of Malaga, would probably when speaking of manna, have named 
that of Sicily, the more so as that island, having been for nearly 250 years under 
Saracenic rule, must have been familiar to the Arabs of Spain, Ebn Beithar is 
moreover in the habit of quoting extensively from other authors. He died 
about a.d. 1248. 
One fact may be held to prove that the Saracens could not have been entirely 
ignorant of the production of manna in Sicily, and it is this:—There exists a 
mountain near Cefalu which is called by the Arabic name Gibil-manna , literally 
Manna-mountain 3 . Other mountains in the island retain the Arabic name of 
gibil: whether the word manna was affixed subsequently to the Saracenic occu¬ 
pation, or whether, as is more probable, the whole name was bestowed by the 
Arab population in virtue of the trees of the mountain yielding manna, is a 
point I am unable to decide. 4 
In the 13th century, Sicily was under the dominion of the Emperor Frederic II., 
a sovereign who appears to have been very solicitous to develop its resources, as 
is proved by many documents extant, relative to the affairs of the island. Thus 
in a letter dated a.d. 1239, he directs that certain Jews settled at Palermo are 
to farm his date plantations at Favara, and to cultivate them after their own 
manner. He also writes about the cultivation of his vineyards and the intro¬ 
duction of indigo and henna, and of divers other plants of Barbary, not then 
known to grow in Sicily. But so far as I can discover, there is no allusion to 
manna. 5 
Pegolotti, an Italian who wrote a sort of mercantile handbook circa a.d. 1340, 
has a chapter on Messina and Palermo, but does not mention manna as a pro¬ 
duction of Sicily ; yet in enumerating the articles sold by the pound at the 
former city, he names manna apparently as a foreign production, since he 
couples it with cloves, cubebs, rhubarb, mace and long pepper. 
Further evidence of a negative sort is afforded by Giovanni di Antonio da 
Uzzano, who in his work called Libro di Gabelli , written circa a.d. 1442, men¬ 
tions the exports of Naples and of Calabria as wine, oil, corn, cheese, salted 
meat, nuts, chestnuts, soap, and oranges, but makes no reference to manna. 6 
1 Geoffroy, Tractatus de Mat. Med. II. 587. The whole disquisition of this author Be 
Manna solutivd, is replete with information. 
2 Ed. Sontheimer, 1840-42., I. 207., II. 533. 
3 Amico, Lexicon topographieum Siculum, III. (1760). 242. 
4 Colonel Yule has remarked that Salmasius in his J Exercitationes Plinianee alludes to 
SuceAifcbj/ jj.avva as mentioned by the Medici recentiores Grceci, but without specifying more 
particularly who they are. 
5 Historia diplomatica Friderici Secundi, par J. L. A. Huillard-Brtffiolles, T. iv. 213; 
T ' 6 Pegolotti’s work forms the third volume and Da Uzzano’s the fourth, of the hook published 
