The Balm of Gilead 433 



floating oil is the best, and reserved for the harem; the second is for 

 commerce. 



The tree has existed in Egypt from the eleventh to the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century. It was presumably introduced there by the 

 Arabs. d'Herbelot 1 cites an Arabic author as saying that the balm 

 of Mathara near Cairo was much sought by the Christians, owing to 

 the faith they put in it. It served them as the chrism in Confirmation. 



The Irish pilgrim Symon Semeonis, who started on his journey to 

 the Holy Land in 1323, has the following interesting account of the 

 balsam-tree of Egypt: 2 "To the north of the city is a place called 

 Matarieh, where is that famous vine said to have been formerly in 

 Engaddi (cf. Cant., 1, 13), which distils the balsam. It is diligently 

 guarded by thirty men, for it is the source of the greater portion of the 

 Sultan's wealth. It is not like other vines, but is a small, low, smooth 

 tree, and odoriferous, resembling in smoothness and bark the hazel 

 tree, and in leaves a certain plant called nasturtium aquaticum. The 

 stalk is thin and short, usually not more than a foot in length; every 

 year fresh branches grow out from it, having from two to three feet in 

 length and producing no fruit. The keepers of the vineyard hire Chris- 

 tians, who with knives or sharp stones break or cut the tops of these 

 branches in several places and always in the sign of a cross. The balsam 

 soon distils through these fractures into glass bottles. The keepers 

 assert that the flow of balsam is more abundant when the incision 

 is made by a Christian than by a Saracen." 3 



In 1550 Pierre Belon 1 still noted the tree in Cairo. Two speci- 

 mens were still alive ini6i2. Ini6i5, however, the last tree died. 



The Semitic word introduced into China by the Yu yah tsa tsu 

 seems to have fallen into oblivion. It is not even mentioned in the 

 Pen ts'ao kan mu. The word "balsam," however, was brought back to 

 China by the early Jesuits. In the famous work on the geography of 

 the world, the Cifah wai ki $$ ~j) 9V $6, 5 first draughted by Pantoja, and 

 after his death enlarged and edited in 1623 by Giulio Aleni (1582-1649), 

 the Peru balsam is described under the name pa'r-sa-mo $}L M ffli 0. 

 The same word with reference to the same substance is employed by 



1 Bibliotheque orientale, Vol. I, p. 392. 



2 M. Esposito, The Pilgrimage of Symon Semeonis: A Contribution to the 

 History of Mediaeval Travel (Geographical Journal, Vol. LI, 1918, p. 85). 



3 Cf. the similar account of K. v. Megenberg (Buch der Natur, p. 358, writ- 

 ten in 1349-50). 



4 Observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables, trouv^es en 

 Grece, Asie, Iud6e, Egypte, Arabie, p. 246. 



5 Ch. 4, p. 3 (ed. of Sou San ko ts'un Im). 



