SUBSTANCES USED AS INCENSE IN THE EAST. 405 



Pliny animadverts strongly (Books 12 and 13) upon the extravagance 

 of the Romans in this respect, especially at funerals, and contrasts 

 it with the simplicity of the Greeks at the time of the Trojan War 

 when incense was not used in sacrificing to the gods, but only the 

 iudigenous juniper and citrus wood necessary to burn the animals. 



Benzoin, the Luban-Jawi, or Java frankincense of the Arabs, which 

 they began to bring from the Beldd-el-ndr, or "incense country/' 

 about the middle of the fourteenth century, was not known to the 

 ancient Hindus or to the inhabitants of Europe ; but they used a 

 somewhat similar substance obtained from Styrax officinalis, which 

 is now no longer an article of commerce, though the bark is still 

 used as incense, and appears occasionally in the Indian bazars under 

 the name of Usturah. Benzoin appears to have rapidly gained the 

 favour of the users of incense both in the Bast and. in the West. It 

 is used all over India. Bombay imports annually about 6,000 cwts., 

 and large quantities go to Europe, where it is used as an ingredient 

 of the incenses used in the Greek and Roman churches. The 

 modern storax of commerce was introduced in the sixth century 

 apparently to replace the original storax, the source of supply 

 of which had become insufficient to meet the demands of 

 commerce, which were very considerable both in Europe and 

 in the East. We learn from the author of the " Periplus of the 

 Erythrean Sea " tbat as long ago as the first century, Silhaka 

 (storax) was exported to India, and about this time it is mentioned 

 as one of the imports of Thana, on the Western Coast. The Arabs 

 also carried it to China, and it appears to have been known in the 

 Indian vernaculars as Ast-loban, " Western frankincense." ' Upon 

 the decline of the port of Thana the trade was transferred to Surat, 

 then to Goa, and afterwards to Bombay, which still imports from 300 

 to 400 cwts. yearly. Storax is an ingredient in European incense. 

 In the trade statistics of the early European traders in India it is 

 called Rosa Mallas and Rose Malloes, a name which it still retains, 

 and the origin of which is doubtful, though some suppose it to be 

 derived from Rosamala, the Malay name for Altingia excelsa, a tree 

 which produces an odoriferous resin in Java and Burma. That the 

 latter supposition is incorrect I think there can be little doubt, as 

 the only Rose Malloes known in Bombay is the European storax ; 

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