Travels in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, and across the desert into Egypt ...

l6o TRAVELS IN ASIATIC TURKEY,
Gained their exquisite flavour. I have already adverted to the uncommon
size of the water-melons, many of" which weigh from
twenty to thirty pounds. They are a great and valuable resource
to the inhabitants, who are so passionately fond of them, that, du-
ring the -ummer months, they form a great part of their subsistence.
Notwithstanding thev are as cooling and refreshing, as
grateful to the taste, 1 was surprised to see the natives eat them in
such immoderate quantities, without experiencing any unpleasant
consequences.
Among the vegetable productions for the table may be ranged
the coulcas, the okre or bannier, the coussa, a species of gourd,
the toma'a, and a kind of bean which has some resemblance to
our French bean. The coulcas is a ro t brought from Bairout,
is in taste not
Acre, Sidon, and Bamiettu, which, when cooked,
unlike the potato, from which it differs in appearance by its darker
hue and less regular shape. In its raw state it is extremely acrid,
and produces on the mouth and fauces, when tasted, a sensation
of pricking and smarting, such as is caused, under the same cir-
cumstances, by the Arum root. It is considered by the inhabitants
as a wholesome and agreeable vegetable, and, being scraped and
boiled, enters into the composition of many of their dishes. The
okre is a fine mucilaginous vegetable, which gives an excellent fla-
vour to the soups.
To the above list may be added other vegetables, the quality of
which is excellent, such as cabbages, cauliflowers, spinage, lettuce,
endive, turnips, cucumbers, radishes, and onions; the latter ex-
tremely mild. Both fruits and vegetables, as well as all other
marketable commodities, are sold by weight.
The grounds in Sjria
are in
general open. Where enclo-
sures have been attempted, they are fenced in with the prickly-
pear tree.
Numerous flocks of
goats and sheep are distributed over the
plains, as well as in the mountainous territory. The tails of the
latter are uncommonly large, resembling those of the sheep of the
Cape of Good Hope. Many of them have an extraordinaiy length
of ear; but this observation applies still more particularly to the
to measure, and
goats, an ear of one of which I had the curiosity
found it to be nine inches in length. The cows and oxen are small,
anl of a reddish hue: large
herds of them are driven out in the
mornings, to browze in the plains, and in those parts of the moun-