SUBSTANCES USED AS INCENSE IN THE EAST. 403 



aloe wood." This we now know to be correct. Ibn Batuta speaks 

 of Kamdrl aloe wood as soft like wax. Abu Zaid calls it Kdmaruni, 

 and says it is the best kind. Abulfeda states that Ood comes from 

 the Kamarun mountains. The Kamarun of the Arabs is what we 

 know as Cape Comorin, which they considered to divide the 

 country and seas of India from the country and seas of China. 

 The former region was also called by them Belad-el-fulful or filfil, 

 "the pepper country/' and the latter Beldd-el-ndr, " the fire or 

 incense country." Other names applied to different qualities of 

 aloe wood were Kdkuli or J awl, " coming from Java or from 

 Kakuleh," a place in Java; Saimuri, ''coming from Saimur or 

 Samar," an island in the Eastern Archipelago ; and Mawardi, 

 "smelling like rose water." The term Sinn or Sainfi is probably 

 derived from Champa, a province in Cambodia, and Mandali 

 from Mount Mandar or Mandal, south of the modern town of 

 Bhagalpur. Haji Zein el Attar (1368) calls aloe wood Ood-el-juj, 

 from Juj or Juju, the name of a town in Cathay. After translat- 

 ing Ibn Sina's article on Ood, he gives his own opinion in the 

 following terms: — " The author of this work (Ikhtiarat) says the 

 best is called Kalambak and comes from the port of Jena, which is 

 ten days' sail from Java. It is sold for its weight in gold. You 

 would think it odourless, but when warmed in the hand it has 

 a very sweet persistent odour ; when burnt the odour is uniformly 

 sweet until the wood is consumed. Next is Mandali and Samanduri, 

 both, from Sofala in India. The best of these is of a golden colour 

 and heavy. Kaludi is like the Indian, and is generally in large 

 pieces marked with black and yellow lines ; then there is Kamari, 

 golden brown, without streaks; it comes from the Kamarun country, 

 and Sainfi from Samf, it is hard and sweet ; then Sahali and 

 Afdsi, a moist kind from China ; then Maatai, Randi, Halai, and 

 Laufi, all of about equal value. And in Manta (Southern China) 

 there is a tribe who call the wood Ashbuh, and it is of two kinds : 

 one of these is in large pieces weighing from 5 to 50 maunds, 

 without much odour, and used for making combs, knife-handles, &c. 

 It must not be supposed that all these names indicate so many varie- 

 ties of wood ; they appear to have been simply trade terms originat" 

 ing from accidental circumstances : for instance, it appears that the 



