430 Sino-Iranica 



qfofalsmdn is derived from the Greek diro^aXaanov. 1 It is supposed also 

 that Old-Testament Hebrew bdsdm refers to the balsam, and might 

 represent the prototype of Greek balsamon, while others deny that the 

 Hebrew word had this specific meaning. 2 In my opinion, the Greek 

 / cannot be explained from the Hebrew word. 



Twan C'eh-si's description of the tree, made from a long-distance 

 report, is tolerably exact. The Amyris gileadensis or balsam-tree is an 

 evergreen shrub or tree of the order Amyridaceae, belonging to the 

 tropical region, chiefly growing in southern Arabia, especially in the 

 neighborhood of Mecca and Medina, and in Abyssinia. As will be seen, 

 it was transplanted to Palestine in historical times, and Twan was 

 therefore justified in attributing it to Fu-lin. The height of the tree is 

 about fourteen feet, with a trunk eight or ten inches in diameter. It 

 has a double bark, — an exterior one, thin and red, and an interior one, 

 thick and green; when chewed, it has an unctuous taste, and leaves an 

 aromatic odor. The blossoms are biflorate, and the fruit is of a gray 

 reddish, of the size of a small pea, oblong, and pointed at both ends. 

 The tree is very rare and difficult to cultivate. Twan's oil, of course, 

 is the light green, fragrant gum exuded from the branches, always highly 

 valued as a remedy, especially efficacious in the cure of wounds. 3 It 

 was always a very costly remedy, and Twan's valuation (equaling its 

 weight in gold) meets its counterpart in the statement of Theophrastus 

 that it sells for twice its weight in silver. 



Flavius Josephus (first century a.d.) 4 holds that the introduction 

 of the balsam-tree into Palestine, which still flourished there in his 

 time, is due to the queen of Saba. In another passage 5 he states that 

 the opobalsamum (sap of the tree) grows at Engedi, a city near the lake 

 Asphaltitis, three hundred furlongs from Jerusalem; and again, 6 that it 

 grows at Jericho: the balsam, he adds in the latter passage, is of all 

 ointments the most precious, which, upon any incision made in the wood 

 with a sharp stone, exudes out like juice. 



From the time of Solomon it was cultivated in two royal gardens. 



1 J. Levy, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 137. 



2 E. Levesque in Dictionnaire de la Bible, Vol. I, col. 15 17. The rapproche- 

 ment of bdsdm and balsamon has already been made by d'Herbelot (Bibliotheque 

 orientale, Vol. I, p. 377), though he gives basam only as Persian. The Arabic form 

 is derived from the Greek. 



3 Jeremiah, viii, 22. Regarding its employment in the pharmacology of the 

 Arabs, see Leclerc, Traite des simples, Vol. I, pp. 255-257. 



4 Antiquitates judaicae, VIII. vi, 6. 

 6 Ibid., IX. 1, 2. 



6 Ibid., XIV. iv, 1. 



