ce, it may be, by the process of evaporation;--this
would considerably modify the product. On the 26th September, 1792, a fall
of manna took place at a district in Sicily, called _Fiume grande_; this
singular shower lasted, it is stated, for about an hour and a half. It
commenced at _twenty-two o'clock_, according to Italian time, or about
five o'clock in the afternoon: the space covered with this manna seems to
have been considerable. A _second_ shower covered a space of thirty-eight
paces in length, by fourteen in breadth. This second shower of manna,
which took place on the following day, was not confined to the _Fiume
grande_, but seems to have fallen in still greater abundance in another
place, called _Santa Barbara_, at a considerable distance: it covered a
space of two hundred and fifty paces in length, by fourteen paces in
breadth. An individual, named Guiseppe Giarrusso, informed Sig. G.M. La
Pira, that about half-past eight o'clock, A.M., he witnessed this shower
of manna, and described it as composed of extremely minute drops, which,
as soon as they fell, congealed into a white concrete substance; and the
quantity was such, that the whole surface of the ground was covered, and
presented the appearance of snow: the depth, in all cases, seems to have
been inconsiderable. This aerial manna was somewhat purgative, when
administered internally; and the chemical analysis of it seemed to prove,
that its constituents, though somewhat different from that obtained from
the _ornus rotundifolia_,[6] did not materially differ from the latter in
its constituents. Sig. La Pira describes it of a white colour, and
somewhat granular or spherical; it seems to have had some resemblance,
externally, to that of the Scriptures; but it is not stated that it became
corrupt on being preserved.

_Water from the Rock._

At the rock, in Horeb, called _Meribah_, Moses miraculously supplied the
people with water. He smote the rock, and an abundant stream immediately
issued: this extraordinary source of supply is now dried up, but there is
still left sufficient evidence to confirm the fact. It will suffice for
our purpose that we quote, in corroboration, the description of an
eye-witness and recent traveller: "We came to the celebrated rock of
Meribah. It still bears striking evidence of the miracle about it; and it
is quite isolated in the midst of a narrow valley, which is here about two
hundred yards broad. There are four or five fissure