The purest and finest gum arabic is brought in caravans to Cairo, by the Arabs of the country round Mounts Tor and Sinai, who bring it from this distance on the backs of camels, sown up in bags, and often adulterated with sand, &c. The gum exudes spontaneously from the bark and trunk of the branches of the tree, in a soft, nearly fluid state, and hardens by exposure to the air, or heat of the sun. It begins to flow in December, immediately after the rainy season, near the flowering time of the tree. Afterwards, as the weather becomes hotter, incisions are made through the bark, to assist the transudation of the juice.--_Ibid_. * * * * * SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS * * * * * RECOLLECTIONS OF A R*T. _Written by Himself_. _From Blackwood's Magazine._ This is a pleasant piece of satire upon the _autobiographic_ mania of the present day. The original article extends to twenty pages, and is throughout a masterly graphic sketch. We have marked a few extracts, which we shall endeavour to connect. "A R--t! a R--t! clap to the door." POPE. As I intend to write the following pages entirely for my own amusement, and as they will most probably never meet the eye of mortal man, who alone can decipher them, it is unnecessary for me to make any observations on the doctrine of metempsychosis, to which indeed my reader (if there shall ever be one) may perhaps not be inclined to give implicit belief. It is unnecessary for me, therefore, to begin by alluding to my former visit to this earth. I shall not even hint, whether if it ever took place, it was in antediluvian ages, or during the Babylonian, Grecian, or Roman glory; or in more modern times. Be assured, however, gentle reader, (if any there ever be,) that I have the faculty of observation--that I have seen many generations of men--that I have been in almost every corner of the habitable world, and that I am intimately acquainted with the history of mankind.--(Sir Walter Scott's Novels I have listened to with the greatest attention!)--I have eat opium in Constantinople--garlic in Italy--potatoes in Ireland. I have dabbled my whiskers in Guava jelly--have drunk rack at Delhi, and at New South Wales I have enjoyed the luxuries of Kangaroo soup and Opossum gravy. I have been at the Highland-moors with young Englishmen--at Melton with young Scotsmen, and at bathing-quarters with old dowagers and their daughters. I have travelled in all ways--by seas--by land--on foot--on horseback--in a carriage--in a ship--in a palanquin--in a muff; but the motion of the camel I never could bear, it so jolted my poor old bones, and discomposed my whole body. India never agreed well with me. The insects, not to mention the serpents, annoyed me. The heat made me quite bilious; and, indeed, I began to feel my liver affected. And however partial I naturally was to perfumes, I soon had a great dislike to the strong smell