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.
