74 
MISCELLANY. 
tions. These pods are opened in Arabia, the native country of the ta- 
marind tree; the pulp is there removed, trodden down in a kind of 
wooden tub, and afterwards formed into roundish cakes, weighing from 
fourteen to sixteen ounces, and dried in the sun. In this state it is 
brought to Cairo, where it is sold, the trade not being a monopoly of the 
viceroy. Even in Egypt all the pulp sold in cake is regarded as adul- 
terated, so that the higher classes purchase only the unopened pods for 
use. The quantity of tamarind pulp brought into the market of Cairo 
and Alexandria, varies from 8 to 10,000 cwt., reckoning the cwt. at 36 
okkas. — Pharm, Journ. from Hep. fur die Pharm. 
On Senna. By X. Landerer, of Athens. — The senna plant is chiefly 
indigenous in Ethiopia, Arabia Felix, Abyssinia, Nubia, and Sennaar. 
The Arab tribes who occupy themselves with this branch of commerce 
pay not the slightest attention to the cultivation or management of the 
plants. The senna plant attains the height of eight or ten feet, and 
affords some protection against the heat of the sun to the inhabitants of 
the desert and to the caravans. The harvest of senna begins about the 
end of September. The Arabs then cut nearly all the branches off the 
tree, leaving the stems bare, and allow them to lie exposed until the 
leaves begin to fade. The branches are now collected in bundles and 
exposed on high ground or rocks that the air and sun may dry them as 
quickly as possible. When the leaves are dry the branches are laid in 
heaps and beaten with sticks to shake the leaves off. The leaves ob- 
tained by this process are not damaged, and consequently fetch the 
highest price, amounting to about double the sum given in the bazaars 
for the broken senna. As all the leaves are not separated from the twigs 
by this process, the branches are, in some parts of Nubia, placed on a 
clay floor and camels are driven over them to effect the total separation 
of the leaves, which are by these means bioken into pieces and found 
mixed with small portions of the twigs. 
Another variety of senna, characterised by the large size of the leaves 
and their green colour, is brought from the interior of Africa. It is sold 
at a high price by the name of Mekka senna. 
The senna {sinamiki) collected in various parts of Africa, is packed in 
linen sacks on camels and conveyed by caravans to the shores of the 
Nile, where it is transferred to the boats, and thus brought to Cairo and 
Alexandria. In these two capitals there are sinamiki magazines, to 
which the bales are conveyed to be unpacked and again carefully 
sorted. 
Within the last two years the senna trade has been thrown open, but 
it has latterly again become a government monopoly. The refuse and 
