sian effrontery asserted they were familiar with the appearance of the gez in its natural state, nearly occasioned us a complete disappointment. We had relinquished the pursuit in very ill humour, to resume our journey, when we met, as chance would have it, two peasants proceeding to the very spot we had just quitted: as usual we accosted them, and were not a little pleased at hearing they were the people whose occupation it was to gather the gez. This lucky meeting set the impertinence of our servants in its true light, and convinced us that both they and the guide were as ignorant of the matter as ourselves, for we had been instructed by them to examine the tops instead of the interior of the bushes, which we might have persevered in without effect until Doomsday. The confusion of the guide, who held a respectable rank in life, was excessive, when we laughed at the circumstance of a Persian swearing by the head of his king (a very serious oath in Persia) that he had seen that which it was clear he had never looked upon.

The men alluded to were furnished with a stick three-fourths of an inch in diameter and curved at the further extremity, which was covered with leather, and a kind of oval leathern bowl near three feet long and two broad with a handle to it, resembling an egg-shell cut in two longitudinally. Besides these, they had a sieve suspended from the right side, to free the gez from the insects and small pieces of leaf that generally fell with it when first beat from the bush: the bottom of the sieve was of coarse woollen cloth.

The countrymen were easily persuaded by a trifling present to fall immediately to work and show us a specimen of their employment. They turned off the road a few yards amongst the bushes we had just quitted, and placing the leathern receptacle underneath, they beat the bushes on the top with the crooked stick; in a few minutes they had obtained a handful of a white kind of sticky substance not unlike hoar-frost, of a very rich sweet taste: this, after being purified by boiling, is mixed up into the sweetmeat before mentioned under the name of gezungabeen.

Though the gez when fresh gathered from the gavan bush admits of being sifted, still in this original state it is brittle and adhesive at the same

time, qualities for which it is so remarkable after its preparation as a sweetmeat. If pressed, it sticks to the fingers; but on being smartly struck with a bit of wood separates easily into small grains like lump sugar. It is in this state in cool weather, or when the thermometer does not exceed 68°; but liquefies on being exposed to a heat above that temperature, resembling white honey both in colour and taste.

The shrub on which the gez is found is called the gavan; it grows from a small root to the height of about two feet and a half, spreading into a circular form at the top from three to four feet and a half in circumference. Captain Stewart, the gentleman with whom I was travelling, remarked that it had a striking resemblance to the broom, but did not, we were informed, bear a yellow flower. The leaves were small and narrow, and underneath we saw the gez spread all over the tender branches like white uneven threads, with innumerable little insects creeping slowly about.

These little creatures appeared to derive their subsistence from the leaves and young bark of the bush they inhabit; and this is the opinion of the country people. They are either three distinct species of insects, or one in three different stages of existence: one kind is perfectly red, and so diminutive as to be scarcely perceptible; the second dark, and very like a common louse though not so large; and the third exactly a very small fly. They are all extremely dull and sluggish, and are found lying or creeping about between the bark of the gavan and the gez. The peasants, as well as the inhabitants of Khonsar, were decidedly of opinion that this curious substance is the production of these diminutive animals, as neither the insects nor the gez are found on any other tree in the neighbourhood; nor can we be allowed to imagine it may be a vegetable gum, as no appearance of any gummy liquid oozing from fissures in the bark of the bush could be observed on the closest examination. The people who are engaged in the collection of this curious article continue their occupation every third day for twenty-eight days during this season of the year (September), when they find a renewal of the gez; but if oftener repeated, they said their work would be attended with no success, as the insects would be too much exhausted.

There is, however, another method in which the gez is said to be produced in the hilly parts of Looristan, which province and Khonsar are the only places in Persia where it is found. There, common report gives it out to be a dew that settles on the leaves of the oak, which in this country is a stunted tree, in comparison with that of English growth; and “were a cloth," they say, "to be spread on the ground, and allowed to remain there all night, it would on the ensuing morning be found covered with the gez," like large crystal drops of dew, such as are seen on plants in the early part of the morning in England. This sort, however, is not held in such estimation as that procured near Khonsar, which latter I look upon as unquestionably an animal production*.

As I am only anxious to state plainly such facts as were witnessed by myself, and to add such additional information as I could procure from the observation of others, without the slightest inclination to adduce any theory of my own; I shall cite every authority or information connected with the subject that I have been able to procure, however much they may differ from my own observations. Amongst others, the author of the Toofutul Momoneen, an esteemed Oriental work, under the article Gezungabeen, says, "Gezungabeen is a dew which falls on the tamarisk (ge) and on similar trees; it is like manna (turunjabin), and congeals. The best is found upon the beod (or willow); that taken from the gez (or tamarisk) and the bulloot (or oak) is of a costive nature. It ought to be white and pure, and not mixed with leaves." Another work states that the "Gezungabeen is a substance like manna (turungabeen) which falls on the leaves of the toorfa; the best is produced at Kaeen and Naeen (the former in Khorassan and the latter in Persia). It is found in large grains like gum mastick."

A journey which I subsequently made to Bagdad convinced me that the gez was not exclusively confined to the above-mentioned places, but was found in the neighbourhood of some towns in the range of mountains

* It is to be remarked that common bee-honey, though not abundant, is well known in Persia, and considered a great luxury for breakfast when fresh, and is also fermented and preserved for winter use.

running through Koordistan, dividing Persia from Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, where it is called manna by the Armenians, and said to be exported in quantities through Eizeroom and Constantinople into Europe for medicinal purposes, and used in the same manner as the Sicilian manna. Botanists describe this latter as a vegetable gum procured in Calabria and Sicily, and exuding from the Fraxinus or wild ash; but there is certainly some reason to suppose that more accurate observation may at some future period prove it to be the production of the Aphis tribe instead of a vegetable gum, as is at present believed. Their medicinal properties appear to be the same.

(Signed)

E. FREDERICK.

Note. The ingenious author of this paper was not probably aware that the celebrated naturalist Gmelin, during his travels in Persia, had as little success as former travellers in discovering the plant on which the ges is found. The following extract from the Histoire des Découvertes faites par divers Savans Voyageurs, tome ii. p. 356, Lausanne 1784, in giving an account of Gmelin's travels, contains some curious particulars :-" La manne Persique, appellée dans le pays thereniabin, est une production de la province de Peria, peu distante d'Ispahan; on l'y recueille sur les feuilles d'un arbre épineux inconnu à M. Gmelin. Cette manne est blanche comme la neige, et ses grains sont de la grosseur de la semence de coriandre. On dit que les paysans du pays ont grand soin de la recolter avant le lever du soleil. L'un d'eux se place sous l'arbre un tamis à la main, tandis qu'un autre frappant avec un baton sur les feuilles et sur les épines, fait tomber la manne dans le tamis, d'où on la serre dans une caisse, ou dans un sac de peau. Pour peu qu'on attendît le lever du soleil, l'on ne recueilleroit rien, vu que la chaleur fait bientôt fondre cette matière qui s'évapore ensuite. On employe cette manne dans les confitures, et les médecins Persans la prescrivent très-souvent comme un doux purgatif, même dans les maladies de poitrine. Il existe en Perse une autre sorte de manne, dont le lieu natal est la province de Chorasan; elle se forme en volute, purge avec plus de violence que celle de la première espèce, sans affecter cependant beaucoup la poitrine : elle n'a pas non plus un goût aussi agréable, ni la même blancheur, et s'appelle en Persan serchista."

XVII.

REMARKS ON THE PROVINCE OF KATTIWAR; ITS INHABITANTS, THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

By Lieutenant JAMES MACMURDO, of the Bombay Establishment.

Read 30th November, 1813.

THE peninsula of Guzerat, commonly known under the name of Kattiwar, is situated within the 69th and 72d degrees of east longitude and the 20th and 23d of north latitude. It is divided into districts as follow:1. Ihallawar. 2. Kattiwar. 3. Goilwar. 4. Muchoo Kaunta. 5. Hallar. 6. Soruth. 7. Babriawar. 8. Jaitwar, also called Burdah. And the small peninsula of Oka Mundul forms the 9th and least important division of the country.

1. Ihallawar, which derives its name from the Ihalla Rajpoots who inhabit it, is the most northerly district. The face of the country is level, and, excepting in the neighbourhood of villages, destitute of wood. Its chief produce in grain is wheat, a great quantity of which is exported from the sea-ports, and also supplies the markets of Guzerat. Cotton is exported from Ihallawar in considerable quantities; it is sent to Kutch from the ports in the Gulf, and is likewise carried to Guzerat, or conveyed direct from Dholera, Gogo, and Bhownuggur to the southward.

The Tulat or elder branch of the Ihallas is the family now possessing Vankaneer, although that of Hulwud and Drangdra are considered of more consequence; both of these towns are of importance in the ancient history of the district, but now fallen greatly to decay.

2. Kattiwar also takes its name from its inhabitants, the Katty tribe. This division has Goilwar on the eastern, and part of Ihallawar and Hallar on the northern and western sides; it extends from Palliad in a southwestern direction as far as the neighbourhood of Soruth and Babriawar.