Page 69 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

50 t6r TO SINAI. [cii.

But a manna, differing in some respects
from all those which I have specified, is found
near to Mount Sinai, and has been regarded
with peculiar interest, in consequence of its
connexion with one of the most striking

events recorded in Scripture history. The
tree which produces it here is the Tamarix
Mannifera of Ehrenberg, a species differing
from that found on the sea coast, and nearly
related to the Tamarix Gallica, but from which,
beyond obtaining a greater height, and being
somewhat more bushy in its foliage, it has little
otherwise of importance to distinguish it. The

substance produced by these trees, to whicli
the designation of manna has been given in
Europe, retains in Mun, among the Arabs,
the name bestowed on this food of the wilder­
ness by their collateral ancestors the Hebrews.
It is found collected in small globules on
the branches of the tree, and falls during the
heat of the day beneath it. Whether the
Sinai manna be an animal or vegetable sub­
stance, it is hoped will be no longer an unde­
cided question ; since there is not only ample
proof that the exudation is occasioned by the
puncture of a small species of Coccus, named