OCTANDRIA. 99 



Brace says that this tree is a native of Abyssinia, 

 growing behind Azab, all along the coast to the Straits 

 of Babelmandel. Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, 

 and even the Arabian physicians, supposed this Balsam 

 to be the produce of Judea only, and hence it seems 

 to have received the name of Balsamum Judaicum, 

 or Balm of Gilead. The Balsam is collected from 

 the tree by making an incision w ith an axe, c when 

 this secretion is in its strongest circulation in July and 

 August and the beginning of September, and col- 

 lected into small earthern bottles suspended to receive 

 it. The quantity to be obtained from each tree is so 

 small (three or four drops daily on the average, the 

 most fertile tree never yielding more than sixty in 

 that time) d and the collecting it so tedious and trou- 

 blesome, that the genuine Balsam is very scarce, and 

 rarely if ever exported as an article of commerce. 

 Lady Mary Wortley Montague says, that when she 

 resided in Constantinople it was not then to be pro- 

 cured without difficulty . e 



The best balsam, according to Alpinus, is at first 

 turbid and white, of a very strong pungent scent, like 

 that of turpentine, but much sweeter and more fra- 

 grant, and of a bitter, acrid, astringent taste : on being 



c Tacitus says, this tree was so averse to iron, that it trem- 

 bled upon a knife being laid near it ; and therefore it was pre- 

 tended, that the incisions should be made with ivory shells, 

 glass, or stone. 



A See Gerlach's Tagebuch's Reise tiach Const antinopel, p. 21 7. 



« See Lady M. W. Montague's letters. 



