[p.392] the Bethnimra of the Scriptures. In the vegetable productions of
this plain the botanist would perhaps discover several unknown species
of trees and plants; the reports of the Arabs on this subject are so
vague and incoherent, that it is almost impossible to obtain any precise
information from them; they speak, for instance, of the spurious
pomegranate tree, producing a fruit exactly like that of the
pomegranate, but which, on being opened, is found to contain nothing but
a dusty powder; this, they pretend, is the Sodom apple-tree; other
persons however deny its existence. The tree Asheyr (Arabic), is very
common in the Ghor. It bears a fruit of a reddish yellow colour, about
three inches in diameter, which contains a white substance, resembling
the finest silk, and enveloping some seeds. The Arabs collect the silk,
and twist it into matches for their fire-locks, preferring it to the
common match, because it ignites more readily. More than twenty camel
loads might be annually procured, and it might perhaps be found useful
in the silk and cotton manufactories of Europe. At present the greater
part of the fruit rots on the trees. On making an incision into the
thick branches of the Asheyr a white juice exsudes, which is collected
by putting a hollow reed into the incision; the Arabs sell the juice to
the druggists at Jerusalem, who are said to use it in medicine as a
strong cathartic.[It is the same plant called Oshour by the people of
Upper Egypt and Nubia. Norden, who has given a drawing of it, as found
by him near the first cataract of the Nile, improperly denominates it
Oshar.]
Indigo is a very common production of the Ghor; the Ghowárene sell it to
the merchants of Jerusalem and Hebron, where it is worth twenty per
cent. more than Egyptian indigo. One of the most interesting productions
of this valley is the Beyrouk honey, or as the Arabs call it, Assal
Beyrouk (Arabic). I suppose it to be the manna, but I never had an
opportunity of seeing it myself. It was described to me, as a juice
dropping from the
[p.393] leaves and twigs of a tree called Gharrab (Arabic), of the size
of an olive tree, with leaves like those of the poplar, but somewhat
broader. The honey collects upon the leaves like dew, and is gathered
from them, or from the ground under the tree, which is often found
completely covered with it. According to some its colour is brownish;
others said it was of a grayish hue; it is very sweet when fresh, but
turns sour after being kept two days. The Arabs eat it like honey, with
butter, they also put it into their gruel, and use it in rubbing their
water skins, in order to exclude the air. I enquired whether it was a
laxative, but was answered in the negative. The Beyrouk honey is
collected only in the months of May and June. Some persons assured me
that the same substance was likewise produced by the thorny tree
Tereshresh (Arabic), and collected at the same time as that from the
Gharrab.
In the mountains of Shera grows a tree called Arar (Arabic), from the
fruit of which the Bedouins extract a juice, which is extremely
nutritive. The tree Talh (Arabic), which produces the gum arabic
(Arabic), is very common in the Ghor; but the Arabs do not take the
trouble to collect the gum. Among other vegetable productions there is a
species of tobacco, called Merdiny (Arabic), which has a most
disagreeable taste; but, for want of a better kind, it is cultivated in
great quantity, and all the Bedouins on the borders of the Dead sea are
supplied with it. The coloquintida (Arabic or Arabic), grows wild every
where in great quantities. The tree Szadder (Arabic), which is a species
of the cochineal tree, is also very common.
As to the mineral productions of the borders of the Dead sea, it appears
that the southern mountains are full of rock salt, which is washed off
by the winter rains, and carried down into the lake. In the northern
Ghor pieces of native sulphur are found at a small