BURSERACEZ. 307 
drug in Bombay is Meetiya; it is mostly sold in India as true 
Myrrh, for which it might easily be mistaken by any one not 
specially acquainted with drugs. The dealers here say that 
no true Myrrh is ever received from Arabia. A kind of myrrh 
resembling Meetiya is sometimes sold in Bombay as Chenai- 
bol or “Chinese myrrh,” and it is curious that Ibn Batuta 
(1340) amongst the articles of trade at Thana, mentions musk 
and myrrh from China. Persian Myrrh has only recently made 
its appearance in the market; it occurs in very large masses 
of a rich reddish brown colour and considerable translucency ; 
_ yery oily; in taste and odour it resembles African Myrrh 
~ very closely. Pieces of papery bark are found adhering to it. 
: . Tt comes principally from Mekran, and is probably the Myrrh 
_. mentioned by Arrian as having been found by Alexander’s 
é army in the country of the Tadpooot. It readily forms an emul- 
sion with water, and appears to have all the properties. of 
commercial Myrrh.* The botany of the Myrrh trees is still 
encompassed with uncertainty, which cannot be removed until 
_ the very localities in which the drug is collected shall have been 
explored by a competent observer. At present all we can say 
_.is that it is probable that Ehrenberg’s or Carter’s Balsamo- 
_ dendron produces the Arabian Myrrh, and that a much larger 
Species, probably B. Myrrha, Nees., growing in north-eastern 
Africa, produces the true Myrrb of commerce. It seems 
_ probable also that Balfour’s B. socotranum is a myrrh tree. 
_ Of the source of the Persian Myrrh we know nothing as yet. — 
Vie we” ial a alt Sar 
2 Description.—Mpyrrh consists of irregular roundish : 
_ masses varying in size from small grains up to pieces as large a8 
an egg, and occasionally much larger. They are of an opaque — 
reddish brown, with dusty dull surface. When broken they 
_ exhibit a rough or waxy fracture, having a moist and unett ) 
_ appearance, especially when pressed, and a rich brown h 
tured translucent surface often displays charac! 
hitish marks which the ancients compared to the hy 
he base of the finger nails, Myrrh has a pee 
__-* In 1882 the imports of Persian Myrrh rose to 
