I Could
Not Learn That They Ever Make It Into Cakes Or Loaves.
The manna is
found only in years when copious rains have fallen; sometimes it is not
produced at all, as will probably happen this year.
I saw none of it
among the Arabs, but I obtained a small piece of last year’s produce, in
the convent; where having been kept in the cool shade and moderate
temperature of that place, it had become quite solid, and formed a small
cake; it became soft when kept sometime in the hand; if placed in the
sun for five minutes it dissolved; but when restored to a cool place it
became solid again in a quarter of an hour. In the season, at which the
Arabs gather it, it never acquires that state of hardness which will
allow of its being pounded, as the Israelites are said to have done in
Numbers, xi. 8. Its colour is a dirty yellow, and the piece which I saw
was still mixed with bits of tamarisk leaves: its taste is agreeable,
somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. If eaten in any considerable
quantity it is said to be slightly purgative.
The quantity of manna collected at present, even in seasons when the
most copious rains fall, is very trifling, perhaps not amounting to more
than five or six hundred pounds. It is entirely consumed
[p.601] among the Bedouins, who consider it the greatest dainty which
their country affords. The harvest is usually in June, and lasts for
about six weeks; sometimes it begins in May. There are only particular
parts of the Wady Sheikh that produce the tamarisk; but it is also said
to grow in Wady Naszeb, the fertile valley to the S.E. of the convent,
on the road from thence to Sherm.
In Nubia and in every part of Arabia the tamarisk is one of the most
common trees; on the Euphrates, on the Astaboras, in all the valleys of
the Hedjaz, and the Bedja, it grows in great plenty, but I never heard
of its producing manna except in Mount Sinai; it is true I made no
inquiries on the subject elsewhere, and should not, perhaps, have learnt
the fact here, had I not asked repeated questions respecting the manna,
with a view to an explanation of the Scriptures. The tamarisk abounds
more in juices than any other tree of the desert, for it retains its
vigour when every vegetable production around it is withered, and never
loses its verdure till it dies. It has been remarked by Niebuhr, (who,
with his accustomed candour and veracity says, that during his journey
to Sinai he forgot to enquire after the manna), that in Mesopotamia
manna is produced by several trees of the oak species; a similar fact
was confirmed to me by the son of the Turkish lady, mentioned in a
preceding page, who had passed the greater part of his youth at Erzerum
in Asia Minor; he told me that at Moush, a town three or four days
distant from Erzerum, a substance is collected from the tree which
produces the galls, exactly similar to the manna of the peninsula, in
taste and consistence, and that it is used by the inhabitants instead of
honey. We descended the Wady el Sheikh N.W. by W. Upon several
projecting rocks of the mountain I saw small stone huts, which Hamd told
me were the work of infidels in ancient times; they were
WADY FEIRAN
[p.602] probably the cells of the hermits of Sinai. Their construction
is similar to that of the magazines already mentioned, but the stones
although uncemented, are more carefully placed in the walls, and have
thus resisted the force of torrents. Upon the summits of three different
mountains to the right were small ruined towers, originally perhaps,
chapels, dependant on the episcopal see of Feiran. In descending the
valley the mountains on both sides approach so near, that a defile of
only fifteen or twenty feet across is left; beyond this they again
diverge, when a range of the same hills of Tafel, or yellow pipe-clay
are seen, which I observed in the higher parts of this Wady. At the end
of four hours we entered the plantations of Wady Feiran [Arabic],
through a wood of tamarisks, and halted at a small date-garden belonging
to my guide Hamd. Wady Feiran is a continuation of Wady el Sheikh, and
is considered the finest valley in the whole peninsula. From the upper
extremity, where we alighted, an uninterrupted row of gardens and date-
plantations extends downwards for four miles. In almost every garden is
a well, by means of which the grounds are irrigated the whole year
round, exactly in the same manner as those in the Hedjaz above Szafra
and Djedeyde. Among the date-trees are small huts where reside the Tebna
Arabs, a branch of the Djebalye, who serve as gardeners to the Towara
Bedouins, especially to the Szowaleha, who are the owners of the ground;
they take one-third of the fruit for their labour. The owners seldom
visit the place, except in the date harvest, when the valley is filled
with people for a month or six weeks; at that season they erect huts of
palm-branches, and pass their time in conviviality, receiving visits,
and treating their guests with dates. The best species of these is
called Djamya [Arabic], of which the monks send large boxes annually to
Constantinople as presents, after having taken out the stone of the
date, and put an almond in its place. The
[p.603] Nebek (Rhamnus Lotus), the fruit of which is a favourite food of
the Bedouins, grows also in considerable quantity at Wady Feiran. They
grind the dried fruit together with the stone, and preserve the meal,
called by them Bsyse [Arabic], in leathern skins, in the same manner as
the Nubian Bedouins do. It is an excellent provision for journeying in
the desert, for it requires only the addition of butter-milk to make a
most nourishing, agreeable, and refreshing diet.
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