MANNA
713
MANNHEIMER
formed Dr. Royle that it was produced by a tree called GumMch, which grows in Candahar, and is about twelve feet high, with jointed stems. A fifth kind is produced on Culotrojns procera, or the plant called Asliiir. The sweet exudation is by Arab authors ranked with sugars, and called Shukur-al-ashur. It is described under this name by Avicemia, and in the Latin translation it is called Zuccarum-al-husai: A sixth kind, called Bed- khUlit, is described in Persian works on ^Materia Medica as being produced on a species of willow in Persian Kho- rassan. Another kind would appear to be produced on a species of oak, for Niebuhr says, "At Merdin, in Meso- potamia, it appears like a kind of pollen on the leaves of tlic tree called Ballot and Afs (or, according to the Aleppo pronunciation. As), Avhich I take to be of the oak family. All are agreed that between ]\Ierdin and Diarbekir manna is obtained, and principally from those trees which yield gall-nuts." Besides these there is a sweetish exudation found on the larch, which is called JManna brifjaiitiacii, as there is also one kind found on the cedar of Lebanon. Indeed a sweetish secretion is found on the leaves of many other plants, produced sometimes by the plant itself, at others by the punctures of insects. It has been supposed also that these sweet- ish exudations, being evaporated during the heat of the day in still weather, may afterwards become deposited, with the dew, on the ground and on the leaves of plants, and thus explain some of the phenomena which have been observed by travellers and others. — Kitto. Ac- cording to Col. Chesney, " The most remarkable produc- tion in ancient Ass^'ria is the celebrated vegetable known here by the name of manna, which in Turkish is most expressively called Kudret-hal-rassiz, or ' the divine sweetmeat.' It is found on the leaves of the dwarf oak, and also, though less plentifully and scarcely so good, on those of the tamarisk and several other plants. It is occasionally deposited on the sand, and also on rocks and stones. The latter is of a pure white color, and ap- pears to be more esteemed than the tree manna. It is collected chiefly at two periods of the year, first in the early part of spring, and again towards the end of au- tumn; in either case the quality depends upon the rain that may have fallen, or at least on the abundance of the dews, for in the seasons which happen to be quite dry it is understood that little or none is obtained. In order to collect the manna the people go out before sun- rise, and having placed cloths under the oak, larch, tamarisk, and several other kinds of shrubs, the manna is shaken down in such quantities from the branches as to give a supply for the market after providing for the wants of the different members of the family. The Kurds not only eat manna in its natural state, as they do bread or dates, but their women make it into a kind of paste ; being in this state like honey, it is added to other ingredients used in preparing sweetmeats, which, in some shape or other, are found in every house through- out the East. The manna, when partially cleaned, is carried to the market at Mosul in goat-skins, and there sold in lumps at the rate of 4j pounds for about '2id. But for family consumption, or to send to a distance out of the country, it is first thoroughly cleansed from the fragments of leaves and other foreign matter by boiling. In the natural state it is described as being of a delicate white color. It is also still, as in the time of the Israel- ites, like coriander seed, and of a moderate but agreeable sweetness" {Euphrates Expedition, i, 123).
"The manna of European commerce comes mostly from Calabria and Sicily. It is gathered during the months of June and July from some species of ash (Oi'- nus Knropwa and Ornus rotiiiidijblia), from which it drops in consequence of a puncture by an insect resem- bling the locust, but distinguished from it by having a sting under its body. The substance is fluid at night, and resembles the dew, but in the morning it begins to harden."
" The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental regions, which bear the name of manna,
have not the qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scripture. They are all condiments or medicines rather than food, stimulating or purgative rather than nutri- tious; they are produced only three or four months in the year, from Mny to August, and not all the year round ; they come only in small quantities, never aflbrd- ing anything Uke 15,000,000 pounds a week, which must have been requisite for the subsistence of the whole Is- raelitish camp, since each man had an omer (or three English quarts) a day, and that for forty years ; they can be kept for a long time, and do not become useless in a day or two; they are just as liable to deteriorate on the Sabbath as on any other day; nor does a double quantity fall on the day preceding the Sabbath ; nor would natural products cease at once and forever, as the manna is represented as ceasing in the book of Joshua. The manna of Scripture we therefore regard as wholly miraculous, and not in anv respect a product of nature" (Smith).