C U C. p. ALUMNI JOURNAL 



53 



A HISTORICAL SAMPLE OF BENZOIN* 



By FANNIE HART, 

 N. Y. C. P. '10. 



copy of the marks and numbers, dis- 

 tinctly legible on the cedar-wood lids. 



No. 143 2 II 1691 



Cabeff Benzoin 



Netto 300 lbs. 



Tarra 61 lbs. 



One of the most interesting specimens, 

 and perhaps the oldest in the College 

 drug collection, is a sample of Gum 

 Benzoin which is accompanied by a 

 placard bearing the history of the 

 sample. The facts of this description 

 are apparently true and I have included 

 the same with a photograph of the 

 sample in this article. 



"This sample of Gum Benzoin was 

 found embedded under sand and sea on 

 the shore of Table Bay, where it had lain 

 for nearly two centuries. In the olden 

 times, this (Cape Town) was the calling 

 port of most of those richly-freighted 

 Dutch East India Company's merchant 

 ships, and there is no doubt whatever that 

 this gum was being carried from the East 

 to the European markets by a vessel be- 

 longing to that company, when she be- 

 came a wreck on the shores of Table 

 Bay. The lids of two cases have been 

 discovered, and they are not only like 

 the gum, in a state of perfect preserva- 

 tion, but they bear very plainly upon 

 their surface the marks and numbers 

 painted on in 1691. The following is a 



Bruto 361 lbs. 



The benzoin is of the Palembang va- 

 riety, a kind now rarely met with in the 

 market." 



Benzoin was first mentioned in the 

 travels of Ibu Batuta who having visited 

 Sumatra during his journey through the 

 East in 1325-49 noted that the island 

 produced Java frankincense and cam- 

 phor. 



The word Java was at that period a 

 designation of Sumatra and was used 

 by the Arabs to signify the island and 

 productions of the archipelago generally. 

 Hence came the Arabic name Luban 

 Jawa or Jawa frankincense which was 

 corrupted into Benjarvi, Benjui, Benzui, 

 Benzoe and Benzoin. 



No further information is on record 

 concerning the drug until 1461, Avhen 

 the Sultan of Egypt, Melech Elmaydi 

 sent to Pasquale Malipiero, Doge of 

 Venice, a present of 30 rotoli or 52.5 lbs. 

 of Benzoi. In 1490 the Sultan also pre- 

 sented Agostino Barberigo, another Doge 

 of Venice, with the same quantity of 

 Benzui. 



Among the precious spices sent from 

 Egypt in 1476 to Caterina Cornaro, 

 Oueen of Cyprus, was 15 pounds of 

 Benzui. 



