in organic remains, it is deserving of a more particular examination than we could give to it. If the Israelites did not follow our route from el-Markhah, but went one or two marches farther to the south, along the Red Sea, which I do not think probable, they would, in all likelihood, come up from the shores of the Red Sea by the north-western termination of the Wádí Feirán, which we have noticed turning to the right, as it is now generally admitted that they came upon Mount Sinai by the upper approach, in advance. Laborde, in his delineation of the Wádí Mukatteb, introduces them to the manna in that valley. The manna of Scripture he supposes to be the sugar exuded from the Tarfa, or Tamarisk mannifera, in consequence of the puncture of an insect, the coccus mannifera, and called Mann by the Arabs. Of this substance, Burckhardt gives us a particular account, which I give below, but which, notwithstanding his opinion to the contrary, does by no means appear to me to correspond with the food which God gave the Israelites from heaven.1 1" This substance is called by the Bedouins, Mann (), and accurately resembles the description of manna given in the Scriptures. In the month of June it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves, and thorns which always cover the ground beneath that tree in the natural state; the manna is collected before sunrise, when it is coagulated, but it dissolves as soon as the sun shines upon it. The Arabs clean away the leaves, dirt, &c. which adhere to it, boil it, strain it through a coarse piece of cloth, and put it into leathern skins; in this way they preserve it till the following year, and use it as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into. 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 some time 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 Our party was reunited at breakfast; and we commenced our journey through Wádí Feirán, with the majestic Serbál, with its five lofty peaks, straight before us as our Kiblah, and expected resting-place for the night. The valley runs S. E. by E. for a couple of hours in almost a straight line, and is tolerably level. The breadth varies, I should think, from about four to six hundred yards. It is sprinkled with sand 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 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."-Burckhardt's Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, p. 600. How little a reference to this substance is fitted to explain the manna of Scripture, or to account for the great miracle by which it was provided for the Israelites, must be apparent to every one who will give but ordinary attention to the sacred narrative, and contrast it with the passage now quoted. The Tarfă is among the plants which grow spontaneously in Egypt; and the Israelites would have recognised its exuded sugar; but the manna received its name from the Israelites asking, What is that? Exod. xvi. 15. The manna was a small round thing, like hoar frost, and of the size of coriander seed. It VOL. I. fell every morning; and when the dew was exhaled, it was found alone upon the ground. It fell every day, except on the Sabbath, and only around the camp of the Israelites. Every sixth day it fell in double quantities; and though it became putrid when kept on ordinary days, it suffered no change on the Sabbath. It fell in such quantities that it maintained the whole hosts of Israel, amounting to about two millions and a half of souls, who suffered no inconvenience from its almost exclusive use. It fell, not merely for six weeks in a season, beginning with the month of July, but throughout the whole year, beginning, in the first instance, with the month of May, and continuing without failing for forty years. Though when left on the surface of the desert, it was melted by the sun, it had such a consistence when taken into the tents, that it was beaten in mortars, and made into cakes. Various other plants which need not be here noticed, yield a substance which has been called manna. See Mr. Royle's article on Manna in the Biblical Encyclopædia. The coincidence of the name of the Arabic mann and the Hebrew may be merely casual, or the Arabs may have given the name mann to the inspissated sugar of the Tarfă, from seeing that it has some slight resemblance to the scriptural manna. N throughout, and has but little vegetation. For the first half hour we had sandstone on each side of us; but after that, we had gneiss, and other primitive rocks, and porphyry penetrating the strata of the former in the form of dykes, and sometimes overlying them. When about to enter the part of this valley of Feirán where it begins to take a waving course, and near the place where Wádí Rummán, or the "Valley of the Pomegranate," enters it from the north, I observed a serpent coiled in the yellow sand, which it resembled in colour; and dismounting from my camel, I killed it with my whip. It proved to be a species of cerastes, and was about seventeen inches in length. Its two horns, which rose immediately above its eyes, were half an inch in height, and slightly curved towards its back. The Arabs declared it to be dangerous; and they were unwilling to touch it. They gave it the name of Leffah, which, although appropriated to a single species of serpent by Dr. Shaw, I am inclined to think is the generic name for a viper. The cerastes, supposed by some to be the Shephiphon of Genesis xlix. 17,2 is very common in Egypt and the desert; but this was the only specimen of this species of reptile-indeed, the only specimen of a serpent-which we saw in our long journey. The valley contracted a good deal, as well as became somewhat winding in its course, after we had passed the Wádí Rummán, which runs into it from the N.N.E. According to Burckhardt, it receives for about an hour's journey the name of Wádí el-Beká, or the "Valley of Weeping;" but we did not hear our Arabs give it this denomination. The plants and bushes increased in it in number as we advanced. |