SANGUIS DRACONIS. C75 



whidi the principal criterion regarded by the dealers is colour. Some 

 of the inferior sorts make only a dull brick-red mark when rubbed on 

 paper, and have an earthy-looking fracture. The sticks moreover do 

 not take the impression of the enveloping leaf as when they are more 

 purely resinous. A sample of inferior Reed Dragon's Blood allorded 

 us 40 per cent, of matter, insoluble in spirit of wine. 



Other sorts of Dragon's Blood. 



Dragon's Blood o/Socotm—\YG have already stated (p. G72) that 

 the Clmmhar mentioned by Dioscorides was brought from Atrica iliat 

 the term really designated dragon's blood seems evident from the tact 

 that the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea,i y^nitcn circa ad. 

 54^G8, names it (K^.m'^ayoO as a production of the island of Dioscorida, 



the ancient name of Socotra. „ . -i j » 



Tl.a A„ni..-„,.o oc Av.,-. TTnTiiffl «Ti(l Tbn Bavtar; describe dragons 



ine Arabians, as Abu naniia aim xun jjajuc^x, -^^^^ o 



blood as brought from Socotra, giving to the drug the very name bv 

 which it is known to the Arabs at the present day, namely, Vam-ui- 

 akh-wain. Barbosa (1514) as well as Giovanni di Barros^ mention it 

 as a production of the island : and in our own times it has been noticed 

 by Wellstead,^ Vaughan,^ and A. von Kremer.« It is now but little 



collected. 



coiiectea. Vaughan states, as wen as vun ;y^^-» rniT i L .tof^ 

 found in Hadramaut and on the east coast of Africa. The latter .state- 

 ment is also made in letters (1877, 1878), with which we were favom^^ 

 by Captain Hunter of Aden and Hildebrandt of Berlin (s<^f P'^f^^ J^^ 

 and 141), by the latter of whom we were presented with a P'^^^o^^^^^ 

 sketch of the tree o-rowinc in the Somali country, at elevations ol 

 from 2500 to 5500 fe?t, and Sailed there Moli. It is Drao.nas<M^ 

 Baker,^ a tree attaining 8 metres in height. The resm has an aadnlou. 

 taste, and is, accordin| to Hildebrandt, not ^/P"=*^¥%^^*.7'XctS 

 eaten by the Somalis." The tree from which dragon s >l7^.^«X 

 in Socotra is, according to Capt. Hunter, Dracmia ^^f f^^^;'f^^ i,^,^ 



^ The Drop Dragon^ Blood, of which ^^/^^l rflnZ^ market S 

 Bombay or Zanzibar occasionally appear m the ^o^d^n mar^^^^^^^^ 



however this drug. It is in small tears and f^^S^^^^^ 'n hrnieces is 

 ing an inch in length, has a clean glassy fracture, and m thm pieces i 

 transparent and of a splendid niby colour . From Suma^i an d J o^^ 

 blood it may be distinguished by not containing ^^^.^f^^^'fi^.^^ted 

 scales constantly present in that drug, and by not evolving ^^ hen 

 on n. -J. n*', K -p ^1-. i-.i^^r-.^r. finnps of benzoic acid. 



Dragon's Blood of 



tis— This substance is afforded 

 resembling a Yucca, of which 



by Bvacwna Draco L., a liliaceous tree« ^^s^^f ^'^"° " ^' ^een described 

 the famous specimen at Orotava in Teneriffe ^^s ^f^^^ T"" ^' 

 on account of its gigantic dimensions and venerable a^e. 



' Voyage of Nearchus and Periplus of the "^''^tt^^^^'^'^^^''^ by excellent 



Erythrean Sea, translated by Vincent, Ox- ture of t^f f tern- a i ^ ^^^^. ^, ^^^ p_.^^. 



ford, 1809. 90. ^S""^^' ^\^H jl^'lTde Innils vau Dracmm 



Sontheimer's ed. i. 104. 42G. ii. 1 17. r"^"^f "'S tlbb 5) in tbe Verhaad d. 



[ LAsia, sec. deca. Venet. 15G1. p. 10. a. ^raco, PP- 5&j yyMcL, afd. ^'aiuurL 



I Travels In Arabia, Lond. 1S3S. ii. 449. A*'"- ^ 



nam. Journ. xii. (1853) 385. '""a Tf tas destroyed in 1867 by a hurri- 



'Aerjypten, Leipzig, 1863. " ^^^ ' ^ 



On Hildebrandt's East African Plants, cane. 

 ^ourn. ofBot. xv. (1877) 71. 



