432 Sino-Iranica 



are placed beneath to receive the sap, which is like oily milk. When 

 collected in vessels, it becomes solid. It is an excellent remedy for head- 

 ache, incipient suffusion of the eyes, and dimness of sight. It bears 

 therefore a high price, especially as it is produced in no other place." 



Dioscorides 1 asserts erroneously that balsam grows only in a certain 

 valley of India and in Egypt; while Ibn al-Baitar, 2 in his Arabic trans- 

 lation of Dioscorides, has him correctly say that it grows only' in Judaea, 

 in the district called Rur (the valley of the Jordan). It is easily seen 

 how Judaea in Greek writing could be misread for India. 



To Pliny, 3 balsamum was only known as a product of Judaea (uni 

 terrarum Iudaeae concessum). He speaks of the two gardens after 

 Theophrastus, and gives a lengthy description of three different kinds 

 of balsamum. 



In describing Palestine, Tacitus 4 says that in all its productions it 

 equals Italy, besides possessing the palm and the balsam; and the 

 far-famed tree excited the cupidity of successive invaders. Pompey 

 exhibited it in the streets of Rome in 65 B.C., and one of the wonderful 

 trees accompanied the triumph of Vespasian in a.d. 79. During the 

 invasion of Titus, two battles took place at the balsam-groves of Jericho, 

 the last being intended to prevent the Jews from destroying the trees. 

 They were then made public property, and were placed under the 

 protection of an imperial guard; but it is not recorded how long the two 

 plantations survived. Tn this respect, the Chinese report of the Yu yah 

 tsa tsu is of some importance, for it is apt to teach that the balm of 

 Gilead must still have been in existence in the latter part of the ninth 

 century. It further presents clear-cut evidence of the fact that 

 Judaea was included in the Chinese notion of the country Fu-lin. 



Abd al-Latif (1161-1231) 5 relates how in his time balsam was col- 

 lected in Egypt. The operation was preferably conducted in the summer. 

 The tree was shorn of its leaves, and incisions were made in the trunk, 

 precaution being taken against injuring the wood. The sap was col- 

 lected in jars dug in the ground during the heat, then they were taken 

 out to be exposed to the sun. The oil floated on the surface and was 

 cleaned of foreign particles. This was the true and purest balsam, form- 

 ing only the tenth part of the total quantity produced by a tree. At 

 present, in Arabia leaves and branches of the tree are boiled. The first 



**, 18. 



t 



2 Leclerc, Traits des simples, Vol. I, 255. 



3 xn, 25, § Hi. 



4 Hist., v, 6. 



5 Silvestre de Sacy, Relation de l'Egypte, p. 20 (Paris, 1810). 



