Aromatics — Styrax benjoin 465 



combined two different aromatics, — an ancient product of Iranian 

 regions, as yet unidentified; and the benjoin yielded by the Styrax 

 benjoin, a small tree of the Malay Archipelago. 1 It is necessary to dis- 

 criminate sharply between the two, and to understand that the ancient 

 term originally relating to an Iranian aromatic, when the Iranian im- 

 portation had ceased, was subsequently transferred to the Malayan 

 article, possibly on account of some outward resemblance of the two, 

 but that the two substances have no botanical and historical inter- 

 relation. The attempt of Cao Zu-kwa to establish a connection between 

 the two, and to conjecture that the name is derived from An-si (Parthia) , 

 but that the article was imported by way of San-fo-ts'i (Palembang on 

 Sumatra), 2 must be regarded as unfounded; for the question is not of 

 an importation from Parthia or Persia to Sumatra, but it is the native 

 product of 'a plant actually growing in Sumatra, in Borneo, and other 

 Malayan islands. 3 The product is called in Malayan kaminan (Garcia: 

 cominham), Javanese menan, Sunda minan. The duplicity of the article 

 and the sameness of the term have naturally caused a great deal of 

 confusion among Chinese authors, and perhaps no less among European 

 writers. At least, the subject has not yet been presented clearly, and 

 least of all by Bretschneider. 4 



According to Su Kun, nan-si Man is produced among the Western 

 2un IS 2& (Si-2un), — a vague term, which may allude to Iranians 

 (p. 203). Li Sim, in his Hai yao pen ts'ao, written in the second half of 

 the eighth century, states that the plant grows in Nan-hai ("Southern 

 Sea"; that is, the Archipelago) and in the country Po-se. The co- 

 ordination with Nan-hai renders it probable that he hints at the 

 Malayan Po-se rather than at Persia, the more so, as Li Si-Sen himself 

 states that the plant now occurs in Annam, Sumatra, and all foreign 

 countries. 5 The reason why the term nan-si was applied to the Malayan 



1 The word "benjoin" is a corruption of Arabic lubdnjdun ("incense of Java"; 

 that is, Sumatra of the Arabs). The Portuguese made of this benzawi, and further 

 beijoim, benjoim (in Vasco da Gama and Duarte Barbosa); Spanish benjui, menjui; 

 Italian belzuino, belguino; French benjoin. Cf. R. Dozy and W. H. Engelmann, 

 Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais denves de l'arabe, p. 239; S. R. Dalgado, 

 Infiuencia do vocabulario portugufis, p. 27. 



2 Hirth, Chao Ju-kua, p. 201. 



8 According to Garcia (C. Markham, Colloquies, p. 49), benjoin is only known 

 in Sumatra and Siam. According to F. Pyrard (Vol. II, p. 360, ed. of Hakluyt 

 Society), who travelled from 1601 to 1610, it is chiefly produced in Malacca and 

 Sumatra. 



4 Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, No. 313. 



5 As the Malayan product does not fall within the scope of the present in- 

 vestigation, this subject is not pursued further here (see Hirth, Chau Ju-kua, 

 pp. 201-202). In Bretschneider's translation of this matter, based on the unreliable 



