The natural productions of this country are of great variety and value, well suited to the wants of I the natives, and amply sufficient to supply a large ex portation. The principal kinds of grain cultivated here are, wheat, barley, Indian corn, rice, millet, pease, beans, caravances. No oats are to be found in Bar bary ; and the usual provender of the cattle is barley and cut straw. Hemp, flax, cotton, and, in some districts, tobacco, are raised in considerable quanti ties. Apples, pears, apricots, plumbs, pomegranates, cherries, dates, almonds, and all the fruits produced in the south of Portugal and Spain, are found in this fertile country. Melons, oranges, lemons, limes, figs, grapes, strawberries, and a multitude of similar re freshing fruits, are supplied to the natives of northern Africa, often indeed of an inferior quality, but ge nerally in the greatest profusion. The sugar cane grows spontaneously in some places, stick liquorice in amazing quantities, a variety of useful gums, and different kinds of medicinal herbs, such as wormseed, orris-root, coloquinth, &c. There are every where along the coast, plantations of olive trees, which grow to a considerable size ; the argan tree, which bears a fruit resembling the walnut, yielding an excellent oil ; large forests of oak, and corkwood ; and a peculiar tree called arar or sandrac, (supposed to be the arbor vitce of Theophrastus,) remarkable for its property of resisting the rot, and the worm. Honey and wax, also, though not strictly speaking vegetable sub stances, may here be mentioned, as forming no despi cable part of Barbary produce.
The prevailing mineral in this country is salt, which seems to pervade the whole soil, and of which there are innumerable pits, rocks, and springs. Saltpetre, also, is extracted in great quantities, from the earth of certain districts ; and many sulphureous fountains, some temperately warm, and others intensely hot, are found in different parts of the country. There is very little stone of any kind fit for building ; and though the Numidian marble is highly celebrated by the ancients, (Plin. 1.5. c. 3.) none of it has been ob served in modern times. Several crystals and spars, specimens of talc, mica, and pyrites, and a great variety of petrcfactions, have been noticed by travellers. There are mines of iron, lead, copper, silver, antimony, and a mixed ore of antimony lead and gold, in the moun tainous districts ; but only the three first mentioned metals are wrought to any great extent.
Barbary is richly stored with all the various classes of 'animated nature ; and its domesticated animals have long constituted the most valuable possessions of the inhabitants.
The horse, formerly the distinguishing glory of Numidia, is now greatly degenerated. When the Arabs found, that the best of their stud were gener ally seized and carried off by their Turkish despots, they soon began to neglect the improvement of the breed ; but those of West Barbary are still very much renowned for heir fleetness and activity. They have, in general, a stronger sinew than the European horses; and, after a little training, become extremely manage able. They are taught to have only two paces, a walk and a gallop ; to stop short suddenly, when checked at full speed ; and to • stand still, whenever the rider may choose to quit them. Except among the Shelluh tribes, the mares arc kept for breeding, and the stallions only used for riding. The ass and nude of this country, though not equal in size and beauty to those of Spain, are very hardy and service able creatures, requiring little attendance, and gene rally employed both in riding and bearing burdens.
The kumrah or jumar, a small animal, the offspring of the ass and the cow, has also been mentioned as a native of Barbary ; and Dr Shaw has described one which he saw at Algiers, and which, he remarks, was not regarded there as an uncommon spectacle. But Mr Jackson, in all his travels in the west of Barbary, never saw such a creature, or found any person'who had seen it, though he was informed that it was some times seen in Biledulgerid ; and its existence is still considered by many naturalists as very questionable. The cows are small, and yield very little milk, seldom more than a quart at a time ; but their flesh is tender and well tasted. Sheep are to be found in all parts of Barbary ; and, owing to the abundance of aroma tic herbs in the pasturage, the mutton possesses a pe culiarly fine flavour. There is a species of this ani mal very common in the eastern districts, which have immense tails, containing a hard, solid fat, which is greatly esteemed by the natives, and which bears a near resemblance to marrow. On the confines of Sa hara is another species, similar in shape and size to the fallow deer ; but their flesh is dry, and their wool of a bad quality. The wool, indeed, of this country varies considerably ; some of it is as coarse as hair, and some again as soft and fine as silk. Thegoats of Bar bary are extremely prolific, and their exportation forms a considerable article of commerce; but they are chief ly valued on account of the leather, which is prepa red from their skins. The camel is unquestionably the most usefnl animal in this quarter of the globe, on account of its well known capacity of enduring the utmost fatigue, and at the same time requiring a small proportion of nourishment. It can travel four or five days without water ; can subsist for 2-1 hours upon one half gallon of barley and beans, or a few balls of flour ; and can carry a load of seven or eight quintals, travelling 10 or 15 hours in the day, at the rate of 2i miles in the hour. Dromedaries are more rare in Barbary than camels, and are generally brought from Guinea or Arabia. They are remarkable for the swiftness of their motion: and there is a particu lar species of this animal, which both Dr Shaw and Mr Jackson assure us, will go over more ground in one day than the fleetest horse can go in 8 or 10. It is called the heirie or desert camel ; and of this ex traordinary animal the last mentioned gentleman has given a most interesting description, to which we must refer our readers. We may merely inform them, that this creature is guided by a leathern thong, attached to a ring, put through its upper lip ; that it can travel, on an emergency, seven days without water ; that there are three kinds varying in excellence and value,—the telatayce, that is, performing in one day a journey which employs a horse three days, and one of these is equivalent to the price of 30 camels,— the sebayce, which travels seven days journey in one, and which are worth 100 camels,—and the tasayce, nine days journey in one, which are extremely rare, and which arc worth 200 camels. The desert horse, called Slerubah Er'reeh, signifying wind sucker, (be cause the animal, when in speed, hangs out his tongue as if sucking the air, ) bears the same relation to the common horse, that the desert camel does to the ca mel of burden. His body is slender like that of a greyhound, his legs small, and his chest very broad. He is used chiefly in hunting the ostrich ; but is not so well calculated for crossing the desert, as he lives entirely on camels milk, and therefore needs to be ac companied by two she camels in such long excursions.