pfant T9ore, IScgcT^^/, dni, Tsijric/*, 239 



Carpohalsamtim, an expression of the native fruit ; and the Opobalsum, 

 or juice, the finest kind, composed of the greenish liquor found in 

 the kernel of the fruit. The principal quantity of Balm has, how- 

 ever, always been produced by excision. The juice is received in 

 a small earthen bottle, and every day's produce is poured into a 

 larger, which is kept closely corked. So marvellous were the pro- 

 perties of this Balm considered, that in order to test its quality, 

 the operator dipped his finger in the juice, and then set fire to it, 

 expedling fully to remain scathless if the Balm was of average 

 strength. The Balm of Gilead has always had a wonderful repu- 

 tation as a cosmetic among ladies. The manner of applying it in 

 the East is thus given by a traveller in Abyssinia: — "You first 

 go into the tepid bath, till the pores are sufficiently opened ; you 

 then anoint yourself with a small quantity, and as much as the 

 vessels will absorb : never-fading youth and beauty are said to be the 

 consequences." By the Arabs, it is employed as a stomachic and 

 antiseptic, and is believed by them to prevent any infection of the 



plague. Tradition relates that there is an aspic that guards the 



Balm-tree, and will allow no one to approach. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, it has a weakness — it cannot endure the sound of a musical 

 instrument. As soon as it hears the approaching torment, it 

 thrusts its tail into one of its ears, and rubs the other against the 

 ground, till it is filled with mud. While it is lying in this helpless 

 condition, the Balm-gatherers go round to the other side of the 



tree, and hurry away with their spoil. Maundevile says that 



the true Balm-trees only grew in Egypt (near Cairo), and in India. 

 The Egyptian trees were tended solely by Christians, as they 

 refused to bear if the husbandmen were Saracens. It was neces- 

 sary, also, to cut the branches with a sharp flint-stone or bone, for 

 if touched with iron, the Balm lost its incomparable virtue. The 

 Indian Balm-trees grew " in that desert where the trees of the 

 Sun and of the Moon spake to King Alexander," and warned him 

 of his death. The fruit of these Balm-trees possessed such 

 marvellous properties, that the people of the country, who were in 

 the habit of partaking of it, lived four or five hundred years in 

 consequence. 



BAMBOO. — The Baruhusa Arundinacea is one of the sacred 

 plants of India : it is the tree of shelter, audience, and friendship. 

 As jungle fires were thought to be caused by the stems of Bamboos 

 rubbing together, the tree derived from that fact a mystic and holy 

 character, as an emblem of the sacred fire. — ■■ — Indian anchorites 

 carry a long Bamboo staff with seven nodes, as a mark of their 

 calling. At Indian weddings, the bride and bridegroom, as part of 

 the nuptial ceremony, get into two Bamboo baskets, placed side by 

 side, and remain standing therein for some specified time. The 

 savage Indian tribe called Garrows possess neither temples nor 

 altars, but they set up a pillar of Bamboo before their huts, and 

 decorate it with flowers and tufts of cotton, and sacrifice before it to 



