iz. It is a small bush propagated from
cuttings which are left to grow for three years; the leaves are then
stripped, except a few buds which develop next year into young shoots,
these being cut and sold in bunches under the name of _khat mubarak_;
next year on the branches cut back new shoots grow; these are sold as
_khat malhani_, or second-year kat, which commands the highest price.
The bush is then left for three years, when the process is repeated.
The leaves and young shoots are chewed; they have stimulating
properties, comparable with those of the coca of Peru.

The aromatic gums for which Arabia was famed in ancient times are
still produced, though the trade is a very small one. The tree from
which myrrh is extracted grows in many places, but the industry is
chiefly carried on at Suda, 60 m. north-north-east of Sana.
Longitudinal slits are made in the bark, and the gum is caught in cups
fixed beneath. The balsam of Mecca is produced in the same way,
chiefly in the mountains near the W. Safra between Yambu and Medina.

The stony plains which cover so large a part of the country are often
covered with acacia jungle, and in the dry water-courses a kind of
wild palm, the _dom_, abounds, from the leaves of which baskets and
mats are woven. Brushwood and rough pasturage of some sort is found
almost everywhere, except in the neighbourhood of the larger
settlements, where forage and firewood have to be brought in from long
distances. The Nafud sands, too, are tufted in many places with bushes
or small trees, and after the winter rains they produce excellent
pasture.

_Population._--The people, according to their own traditions, are
derived from two stocks, the pure Arabs, descended from Kahtan or
Joktan, fourth in descent from Shem; and the Mustarab or naturalized
Arabs, from Ishmael. The former are represented at the present day by
the inhabitants of Yemen, Hadramut and Oman, in general a settled
agricultural population; the latter by those of Hejaz, Nejd, El Hasa,
the Syrian desert and Mesopotamia, consisting of the Bedouin or pastoral
tribes (see ARABS and BEDOUINS). This distinction between the
characteristics of the two races is only true in a general sense, for a
considerable population of true Bedouin origin has settled down to
agricultural life in the oases of Hejaz and Nejd, while in southern
Arabia the tribes dwelling on the fringe of the great desert have to a