Salt-petre.—This article, now prohibited from exportation, except under certain restrictions, and particular grants, is the produce of Fas, Marocco, and Terodant; that of Terodant or Suse is the best, purest, and strongest, and in its unrefined state is equal to that of Marocco when refined.[114]
Lead Ore (El Kahol).—There are two kinds of this mineral; that which is the best and most esteemed sells for double the price of the common kind, and is the basis of the black substance used by the African ladies to tinge their eyes, eye-brows, and eye-lashes. The Atlas mountains abound with this lead ore, particularly the eastern side of them, towards Fighig and Tafilelt. The best kind, as already observed, is called El Kahol Filelly (i.e. lead ore of Tafilelt).
Sulphur.—Before this mineral was imported from the Mediterranean, it was dug from the foot of Atlas, opposite to Terodant, where there are immense quantities.[115]
FRUITS, PLANTS, &c.
Figs, called by the Western Arabs, Kermuse; there are many kinds of this fruit, some of which are purple, others green; they are esteemed wholesome, and abound in every part of the empire. At Terodant, Marocco, Fas, and Tetuan, they are uncommonly fine, and of an exquisite flavour; those of Mogodor, however, are very inferior, as are most of the fruits that grow in the environs of that arid and sandy country. The Jews extract (mahaya) an ardent spirit from figs, which they drink immoderately whilst hot from the alembic; but when they have patience to keep it a year or two, it becomes a mild spirit, losing its heating and pernicious quality.
Indian Fig, or Prickly Pear (Cactus Opuntia), called Takanareele, by the Shelluhs, and Kermuse d’Ensarrah, by the Arabs and Moors. The tree which produces this fruit grows from ten to twenty feet in height; its leaves, from the sides of which the fruit springs, are thick and succulent, and impregnated with a transparent mucilaginous juice, which, from its peculiarly cooling and anti-inflammatory qualities, was much used with gum ammoniac, during the plague, for cataplasms and fumigations. The Indian fig is very different from other figs; when ripe, it is of an oval form, and of a colour inclining to orange or yellow; it has a thick succulent rind, so covered with fine sharp prickles, as to render leather gloves, or some other substitute necessary, when peeling it. This fruit is of an extraordinary refrigerating quality, and is, on that account, eaten in the early part of the morning by the people of Haha and Suse, where it abounds. In hot weather it is a grateful restorative to the relaxed state of the bowels. The tree grows in stony arid situations, and frequently affords refreshment to the traveller, when he least expects to find so cooling a fruit.
Almonds.—The quantities of this fruit produced in the province of Suse are incalculable, and have, latterly, been much increased. The bitter kind is exported to Europe; but the sweet, being an article of food, has been, by the present Emperor, prohibited from exportation, which has recently diminished considerably the cultivation of this nutritious fruit.
Gum Sandrac Tree.—Thuya, Arar, or Sandrac-tree, is probably the Arbor vitæ of Theophrastus: it is similar in leaf to the juniper, and, besides producing the gum sandrac, the wood is invaluable, being somewhat like cedar, having a similar smell, and being impenetrable to the worm; it is, however, a harder wood, and would be a great acquisition in ship-building; and there are means of procuring it. The roofs of houses, and cielings of rooms, are made of this unperishable wood.
El Rassul.—A small plant little known, but used by the tanners in the preparation of leather.
Tizra, or Seuhayha.—A shrub about three feet high, used also in the preparation of leather; it grows near the Jibbel Heddid in the plains[116] of Akkermute, in the province of Shedma. (See the [map of West Barbary]).