ἀπὸ Σεπτ. παράδ. The name given to the miraculous food upon which the Israelites were fed for forty years, during their wanderings in the desert, is first mentioned in Exod. xvi. It is there described as being first produced after the eighth encampment in the desert of Sin, as white like hoar-frost (or of the colour of ledeleum, Numb. xi. 7), round, and of the bigness of coriander seed (gad). "When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? for they knew not what it was." (Exod. xvi. 15.) In the authorized and some other versions, this passage is inaccurately translated; which, indeed, is apparent from the two parts of the sentence contradicting each other. In the Septuagint the substance is almost always called manna instead of man. Josephus (Antiq. iii. 1, § 6), as quoted by Dr Harris, says—"The Hebrews called this food manna, for the particle man in our language is the asking of a question, 'What is this?' (man-ha)." Though the manna of Scripture was so evidently miraculous, both in the mode and in the quantities in which it was produced, and though its properties were so different from anything with which we are acquainted, yet because its taste is in Exodus said to be like that of wafers made with honey, many writers have thought that they recognised the manna of Scripture in a sweetish exudation which is found on several plants in Arabia and Persia. The name man, or Manna, is applied to this substance by the Arab writers, and was probably so applied even before their time. But the term is now almost entirely appropriated to the sweetish exudation of the ash trees of Sicily and Italy (Ormus europaea and Fraxinus rotundifolia). These, however, have no relation to the supposed manna of Scripture. Of this one kind is known to the Arabs by the name of guzyufbeen, being the produce of a plant called guz, and which is ascertained to be a species of tamarisk. The same species seems also to be called toorfia, and is common along different parts of the coast of Arabia, and in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai. Burckhardt (Travels in Arabia, vol. ii., p. 51) says,—"It is from the toorfia that the manna is obtained. It is called by the Arabs mumm. In the month of June it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves, and thorns, which always cover the ground beneath the tree in the natural state. The Arabs use it as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into; its taste is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. If eaten in any quantity it is said to be highly purgative. Ehrenberg has examined and described this species of tamarisk, which he calls T. mannifera, but which is considered to be only a variety of T. gallica. The manna he considers to be produced by the puncture of an insect, which he calls Codus mammiferus. Others have been of the same opinion."

Another kind of manna, which has been supposed to be that of Scripture, is yielded by a thorny plant, very common from the north of India to Syria, and which by the Arabs is called al-hay; whence botanists have constructed the name Allagi. The two species have been called Allagi maurorum and A. desertorum. Both species are also by the Arabs called oshter-khar, or "camel's thorn;" and in Mesopotamia, agool, according to some authorities; while by others this is thought to be the name of another plant. The Allagi maurorum is remarkable for the exudation of a sweetish juice, which concrettes into small granular masses, and which is usually distinguished by the name of Persian manna. Professor Don was so confident that this was the same substance as the manna of Scripture, that he proposed calling the plant itself Manna hebraica. These two, from the localities in which they are produced, have alone been thought to be the manna of Scripture. But besides these, there are several other kinds of manna. Burckhardt, during his journey through El-Ghor, in the valley of the Jordan, heard of the Beiruk honey. This is described as a substance obtained from the leaves and branches of a tree called Gharb or Garrah, of the size of an olive tree, and with leaves like those of the poplar. When fresh, this greyish-coloured exudation is sweet in taste, but in a few days it becomes sour. The Arabs eat it like honey. One kind, called Sherk-khisht, is said to be produced in the country of the Uzbecs. A Canbul merchant informed the author of this article that it was produced by a tree called Gundeleh, which grows in Candahar, and is about 12 feet high, with jointed stems. A fifth kind is produced on Calotropis procera, or the plant called Ashur. The sweet exudation is by Arab authors ranked with sugars, and called Sukur-al-ashur. It is described under this name by Avicenna, and in the Latin translation it is called Zuccarum-al-kusur. A sixth kind, called Bed-khisht, is described in Persian works on materia medica as being produced on a species of willow in Persian Khorsassan. Another kind would appear to be produced on a species of oak; for Niebuhr says,—"At Merdin in Mesopotamia, it appears like a kind of pollen on the leaves of the tree called Ballot and As (or, according to the Aleppo pronunciation, As), which I take to be of the oak family. All are agreed, that between Merdin 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 Manna brigantica, 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 sweetish 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. But none of these mannas explain, nor can it be expected that they should explain, the miracle of Scripture, by which abundance is stated to have been produced for millions where hundreds cannot now be subsisted.