ELEMI. 



153 



iim 



Luo icoii-io cL^^.wxv. ^-.^^ / is the exudation of Bosivellia 



Frereana Bivdwood, a remarkable tree gregarious on the bare limestone 



Murayah 



The tree 



which is called Yegaar by the natives, is of small stature, and differs 

 from the other species of Boswellia growing on the same coast m having 

 glabrous, glaucous leaves with obtuse leaflets, crisped at the margin. 

 The hark is smooth, papery, and translucent, and easily stripped off in 

 thin sheets which are used for writing on. Though growing wild, the 

 trees are said by Capt. Miles ' to be carefully watched and even some- 

 times propacrated. The resin exudes after incision in great plenty, soon 

 hardens, and is collected by the Somali tribes who dispose^ of it to 

 traders for shipment to Jidda and ports of Yemen : occasionally a 

 package reaches London among the shipments of olibanum. It is used 



in the East for chewing like mastich. ttt n l j • 



In modern times Luban Mati has been mentioned by Wellsted in 



his "Travels in Arabia" (1838). , a 



Luban Meyeti occurs in the form of detached droppy tears and 

 fragments, occasionally in stalactitic masses several ounces m weight. 

 It breaks very easily with a brilliant conchoidal fracture, showing an 

 internal substance of a pale amber yellow and perfectly transparent. 

 Externally it is more or less coated with a thin opaque white crust, 

 which seen under the microscope appears non-crystallme. _ Many ot the 

 tears have pieces of the thin, brown, papery bark adhering to them. 

 The resin has an agreeable odour of lemon and turpentine, and a mild 



terehinthinous taste. _ i j xi 



Treated with alcohol (-838) it is almost entirely dissolved ; the very 

 small undissolved portion is not crystalline. The former agrees with 

 the formula C'^"ff"0^ 20 lb. of Luban Mati yielded us 1 ounces ot a 

 volatile oil (=3-1 per cent.) having a fragrant odour suggestive ot e emi 

 aud sp. gr. 0-856 at IT C. The oil examined in a column 50 miilim. 

 long, deviates the ray To to the left. By fi-actipnal distillation we 

 found it to consist of dextrogyre hydrocarbon, C^;H;^ mixed with an 

 oxygenated oil which we did not succeed in isolating ; the iattei is 

 evidently lievogyre, and exists in proportion more than sutticient to 



n\7D,./:.^v^.„ j.i,_ ° _i i...i ^„.^,. /^f +liA Vivflrncarbon. 



overcome the weak dextrogyre power of the hydrocarbon 



There is no gum in this exudation ; it is therefore essentially 

 different from olibanum, the product of closely allied species ot 

 Boswell ia.* 



olibanum : mp?/ei?i perhaps from Jebel Meyet, 

 a mountain of 1200 feet on tlie Somali Coast 

 m bug. 47=' 10'. 



By the assistance of Professor G. Plan- 

 chon we have ascertained that it is identi- 

 cally the same substance as described by 

 Vuibourt under the name Tacamaque 



■'mo-^ '""'^ease A.— Hist, des Drogues, iii. 

 U8o0)483. 



L 



Figu 



(reduced) in Cooke's report on the Onm^, 

 Resins, etc., of the India Mustum, 1871, 



^^3 /c!«nj. Geograph. Sac. '^Jii-^ISTS) 61. 



4 f luckiger, on Luban Mati and^Ohba- 

 num Fharm. Journ. viii. (1S7S) 80a, with 

 sketch map of the Somali Coast. 



