ON  THE  DRUGS  OBSERVED  AT  ADEN,  ARABIA. 
337 
a  very  powerful  and  offensive  odor,  which  is  frequently  brought 
into  Aden  in  large  masses,  sometimes  of  the  weight  of  twenty 
pounds.  It  is  found  on  the  beach  or  floating  on  the  sea  all  along 
this  coast.  To  all  appearance  it  is  the  produce  of  a  cetaceous 
animal,  most  probably  of  a  whale  or  a  dolphin,  of  which  it  seems 
to  be  a  portion  of  the  blubber  whence  a  great  part  of  the  oily 
matter  has  oozed  out.  The  specimens  which  I  have  examined 
consisted  chiefly  of  fibro-cellular  tissue  enclosing  but  a  small 
quantity  of  spermaceti.  The  Arabs  use  it,  when  melted  over  a 
slow  fire,  as  an  unguent,  and  consider  it  almost  in  the  light  of  a 
specific  in  rheumatic  affections. 
Pearl-ash. — An  impure  carbonate  of  potash  in  large  dark  or 
black  circular  cakes  is  brought  into  the  Aden  market  every  day, 
and  extensively  used  in  washing  clothes,  &c,  being  much  cheaper 
than  soap,  and  because  it  saves  the  native  dhobies*  the  expendi- 
ture of  what  a  laundress  at  home  calls  "  elbow-grease,"  a  species 
of  manipulation  to  which  they  are  much  averse.  The  wood  afford- 
ing this  alkali  grows  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Aden, 
and  the  process  of  combustion  is  constantly  going  on  along  the 
northern  shore  of  the  harbor.  I  find  the  Aden  washermen  pay 
about  two  rupees  for  each  cake. 
The  foregoing  sketch,  imperfect  as  the  writer  knows  it  to  be, 
affords,  nevertheless,  ample  proof  that  this  region  abounds  in 
numerous  vegetable  productions,  which  are  profitable  as  articles 
of  trade,  and  valuable  in  their  medicinal  and  other  uses.  With 
some  of  these  the  commercial  and  scientific  world  are  already  ac- 
quainted, with  others  they  are  less  familiar,  and  of  a  few  it  may 
be  presumed  that  they  know  scarcely  anything.  With  regard  to 
science,  and  especially  medicine,  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that 
some  eminent  botanist  does  not  turn  his  attention  to  this  part  of 
the  world,  where  Nature  has  been  so  lavish  in  her  precious  gifts, 
and  where  a  wide  field  of  research  is  open  to  him,  from  which  he 
might  make  many  important  and  original  additions  to  the  present 
stock  of  medical  knowledge,  and  thereby  establish  a  high  claim  to 
the  esteem  and  gratitude  of  his  profession  in  particular,  and  of  the 
scientific  part  of  the  community  generally.  Scarcely  anything  is 
known  at  present  of  Eastern  Africa  beyond  the  sea-board,  and  the 
*  Dhobies ,  Indian  washermen. 
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