462 Sino-Iranica 



Theophrastus 1 mentions in the country Aria a "thorn" on which 

 is found a gum resembling myrrh in appearance and odor, and this 

 drops when the sun shines on it. Strabo 2 affirms that Gedrosia produced 

 aromatics, particularly nard and myrrh, in such quantity that Alex- 

 ander's army used them, on the march, for tent-coverings and beds, 

 and thus breathed an air full of odors and more salubrious. Modern 

 botanists, however, have failed to find these plants in Gedrosia or any 

 other region of Iran; 3 and the Iranian myrrh of the ancients, in all 

 probability, represents a different species of Balsamodendron (perhaps 

 B. pubescens or B. mukul). According to W. Geiger, 4 Balsamodendron 

 mukul is called in Baluci bdd, bob, or boz, a word which simply means 

 "odor, aroma." It is a descendant of Avestan baoiSi, which we find in 

 Pahlavi as bdd, box, Sogdian/ra/SoScm, /3o5a, New Persian bol, bo (Ossetic 

 bud, "incense"). 5 



It is noteworthy also that the ancient Chinese accounts of Sasanian 

 Persia do not make mention of myrrh. The botanical evidence being 

 taken into due consideration, it appears more than doubtful that 

 the statement of the Nan Zou ki, Yu yah tsa tsu, K K ai pao pen ts'ao, and 

 Ceh lei pen ts'ao, that the myrrh-tree grows in Po-se, can be referred to 

 the Iranian Po-se. True it is, the tree does not occur, either, in the 

 Malayan area; but, since the product was evidently traded to China by 

 way of Malaysia, the opinion might gain ground among the Chinese 

 that the home of the article was the Malayan Po-se. 



The Japanese style the myrrh mirura, which is merely a modern 

 transcription of "myrrha." 6 



58. TsHhmu hiah'ft'M^t ("dark-wood aromatic") is attributed 

 to Sasanian Persia. 7 What this substance was, is not explained; and 

 merely from the fact that the name in question, as well as mu hiah 

 fcHIr ("tree aromatic") and mi hiah %£%t, usually refer to costus 

 root or putchuck (also pachak), we may infer that the Persian aromatic 

 was of a similar character. Thus it is assumed by Hirth; 8 but the 

 matter remains somewhat hypothetical. The Chinese term, indeed, has 



1 Hist, plant., IV. iv, 13. 



2 XV. 11, 3. 



* C. Joret, Plantes dans l'antiquite\ Vol. I, p. 48. 

 4 Etymologie des Balu&, p. 46. 



6 In regard to the use of incense on the part of the Manichaeans, see Chavannes 

 and Pelliot, Traits manicheen, pp. 302-303, 311. 



• J. Matsumura, Shokubutsu mei-i, No. 458. 



7 Wei $u, Ch. 102, p. 5 b; Sui Su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b. 



8 Chau Ju-kua, p. 221. Putchuck is not the root of Aucklandia costus, but of 

 Saussurea lappa (see Watt, Commercial Products of India, p. 980). 



