In regard to testaceous productions, there are three kinds of shell-fish in the Red Sea, which are zealously sought for on account of the pearls which they contain. The first is a muscle of unfrequent occurrence, found chiefly towards the north end of the gulf, and on the Egyptian side. Bruce saw them at Cosseir, where there was an ancient port called Myos Hormos, erroneously called the Port of the Mouse; whereas it signifies Muscle Harbour. The pearls found in this shell are of great beauty as to form and lustre, but they are seldom of a clear colour. The second sort of pearl-shell is called pinna. It is rough, and figured on the outside, of a beautiful red colour, extremely fragile, and sometimes measures three feet long. It is clothed in the inside with a beautiful and sumptuous lining of nacre or mother-of-pearl, of a white colour tinged with a delicate blush of red. The third kind of pearl-bearing shell is not unlike our oyster. Its produce is characterized by its extreme whiteness. The most excellent are those which resemble a solution of alum,-limpid, milky-like, yet with a certain almost imperceptible cast of a fiery colour, but not transparent, as supposed by Theophrastus. In the Red Sea, where it holds the highest rank among pearls, it is called lulu single, or lulu el Berber, that is, the pearl of Berber, Barabra, or Beja, the country of the Shepherds.*

Ancient writers appear to have endowed testaceous animals with a higher capacity than corresponds to the station assigned them in these degenerate days. Pliny and Solinus inform us, that the pearl-muscles have leaders, and go in flocks, and that the captain of the band is gifted with peculiar cunning to

protect himself and his flock from the rapacious fishermen. It is added, that when the leader is taken, the others, hesitating and inexperienced, fall an easy prey. It has been observed that pearls are always the most beautiful in those places where a quantity of fresh water falls into the sea. Bruce, however, observed none of the pearl-shells on either side southward of the parallel of Mocha, in Arabia Felix. In that part of the traveller's narrative where he relates his return through the Desert of Nubia, he alludes to the muscles which occur in the salt-springs of these arid regions. They are said to travel far from home, and are sometimes surprised by the ceasing of the rains at a greater distance from their beds than they have strength or moisture to travel over. In many of these shells coarse excrescences occur which may be called pearls, but they are ill-formed and of a bad colour. The value of these articles, it may be observed, depends upon their size, colour, smoothness, lustre, and regularity of form. In proportion to their size, they may be considered as the most valuable of all animal products, or next to the diamond of all the productions of nature. It is known that Cæsar gave to Servilía, the mother of Marcus Brutus, a pearl which was worth 50,000l. of our money; and the famous vaunt of Cleopatra to her lover, that she would provide him with a supper which should cost two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, was accomplished by dissolving in a draught one of the precious pearls from her earrings. Its counterpart was afterward carried to Rome by Augustus Cæsar, and, being cut in two, was affixed to the ears of the statue of Venus Genetrix.

We shall conclude our notice of this subject by observing, that an elegant and ingenious method of veneering or inlaying with nacre or mother-of-pearl is brought to great perfection, especially at Jerusalem. The substance used is chiefly taken from the lulu el Berber, commonly called the Abyssinian oyster. Great quantities are brought from the Red Sea to Jerusalem, and are formed into boxes, beads, and crucifixes, much sought after by Spaniards both in the Old World and the New,*

A sketch of the history of two of the most remarkable insects of these countries must bring our zoological chapter to a close. The fly called Tsaltsalya presents a singular example of the pervading influence of a creature which, were we to judge from its apparent or external characteristics, we should deem alike insignificant and powerless. In size it is little larger than a bee, and has pure gauzy wings without spot or colour. The head is large, and the mouth is furnished with three strong projecting hairs or bristles. Providence appears to have fixed the habitation of this insect to a soil composed of a black fattish earth of extraordi.

* Bruce, vol. v. p. 230.

nary fruitfulness; and there it reigns for a season as lord and master. According to Bruce, it absolutely prohibited the former inhabitants of the land, called Mazaga, and who were domiciled in caves and mountains, from deriving any advantage from beasts of burden. It deprived them of flesh and milk, and gave origin to another nation, whose manners were exactly the reverse of the first. These were shepherds, who lead a wandering life, and preserve immense herds of cattle by conducting them into sandy regions beyond the limits of the black earth, and bring them back again when all danger from the fly has ceased. "We cannot read the history of the plagues which God brought upon Pharaoh by the hands of Moses without stopping a moment to consider a singularity, a very principal one, which attended this plague of the fly. It was not till this time, and by means of this insect, that God said he would separate his people from the Egyptians. And it would seem that then a law was given to them that fixed the limits of their habitation. It is well known, as I have repeatedly said, that the land of Goshen or Geshen, the possession of the Israelites, was a land of pasture, which was not overflowed by the Nile. But the land overflowed by the Nile was the black earth of the valley of Egypt, and it was here that God confined the flies; for he says, it shall be a sign of this separation of the people, which he had then made, that not one fly should be seen in the sand or pasture-ground, the land of Goshen; and this kind of soil has ever since been the refuge of all cattle emigrating from the black earth to the lower part of Atbara. Isaiah, indeed, says that the fly shall be in all the desert places, and consequently the sands; yet this was a particular dispensation of Providence to answer a special end, the desolation of Egypt, and was not a repeal of the general law, but a confirmation of it; it was an exception for a particular purpose and a limited time."*

In the Chaldee version this insect is called simply zebub, which signifies the fly in general, as it is expressed in English, By the Arabs it is translated zimb, which has the same signification. Tsaltsalya is the word used in the Ethiopic translation, and that term is the true name of the fly in Geez. As soon as this plague appears, and its dreaded buzzing is heard, the cattle forsake their food, and run wildly about the plain till they die, worn out with fear, fatigue, and famine; and no remedy remains for the inhabitants but to leave the region of the black earth and hasten down to the sands of Atbara. Even the sunburnt camel, emphatically called the ship of the desert, is soon destroyed by this destructive creature. The gigantic elephant and case-hardened rhinoceros, both of which are prevented by their enormous bulk, and the vast quantity of food and water

Bruce, vol. v. p. 100.

which they consume daily, from removing to dry and desert places, are obliged to roll themselves in the mud, which soon dries and hardens on their obdurate coats, and enables them in some measure to withstand the attack of their winged and almost viewless assassin. The whole inhabitants of the seacoast of Melinda, down to Cape Guardafui, to Saba, and the south of the Red Sea, are obliged to remove to the next sands on the commencement of the rainy season, for the salvation of their flocks. "This," says Bruce, "is not a partial emigration; the inhabitants of all the countries from the mountains of Abyssinia, northward to the confluence of the Nile and Astaboras, are once a year obliged to change their abode, and seek protection in the sands of Beja; nor is there any alternative, or means of avoiding this, though a hostile band was in their way, capable of spoiling them of half their substance." Hear the words of the inspired prophet:" And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt."-" And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes."*

The only other insect which we shall notice is the Abyssinian locust, which Mr. Salt informs us commits dreadful ravages in that country. During his stay in the Bay of Amphila a large flight of these insects came over to one of the islands, and in a few days destroyed nearly half the vegetation upon it, not sparing even the bitter leaves of the rack-tree. These locusts are named Terad in Yemen, and Anne in Dancali, and are frequently used as food by the wandering tribes of both these nations, who, after broiling them, separate the heads from the bodies, and devour the latter in the same manner as Europeans eat shrimps and prawns.t

* Isaiah, chap. vii. 18, 19.

† Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 172, Dd2

BOTANY.

CHAPTER IX.

General Description of the Vegetation as far as it is known-Brief Account of the most Remarkable and Useful Plants.

Vegetation of the Country-The Baobab-Acacia vera-TamarindKantuffa-Kuara-True Sycamore- Kolquall-Cusso-Balsam of Mecca-Wooginoos-Coffee-tree- Wansey-Ensete-Doum-tree→→ Dhourra-Teff-Papyrus.

FEW materials have been contributed by travellers towards a flora of Nubia and Abyssinia. Since the time of Bruce we know of two individuals only, Mr. Salt and M. Cailliaud, who have made any considerable additions to our knowledge of the plants of those countries. Mr. Salt has published a catalogue of the species collected by him; but it is, after all, merely a list of names.* M. Cailliaud preserved a smaller number; but the hundred species he obtained have been carefully described by M. Raffeneau Delile,† and thirty-five of them are new. Without entering into minute observations on the respective collections of these travellers, we may remark, that on comparing them together, twenty species, or one-fifth of the whole of M. Cailliaud's collection, are leguminose; while of Mr. Salt's collection, which amounts to one hundred and forty species, only eleven are leguminosa. And that it is equally remarkable that there should be eleven labiate in Mr. Salt's list, and only a solitary representative of the order in that of M. Cailliaud.

A great sameness prevails in the vegetation of the deserts; the trees are mostly acacias, tamarix, date, and doum palms. Plants, however, abound in the more cultivated regions, the banks of rivers, and the elevated mountain-ranges; but of the peculiar features presented by the vegetation in different parts of the country we have few and very meager descriptions. The most instructive one is contained in the notes of Bruce's Jour

*Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, App: p. 62.

† Voyage à Méroé, &c, par M. Frédério Cailliand, 1827, vol. iv. p.

203.