546 pPant Isore, "bege?^/, ariel "hvjncf. 



less body, changed it into the beautiful tree that bears the Frank- 

 incense. Ovid thus describes the nymph's transformation : — ■ 



'• What Phcebus could do was by Phcebus done. 

 Full on her grave with pointed beams he shone. 

 To pointed beams the gaping earth gave way ; 

 Had the nymph eyes, her eyes had seen the day ; 

 But lifeless now, yet lovely, still she lay. 

 Not more the god wept when the world was fired, 

 And in the wreck his blooming boy expired; 

 The vital flame he strives to light again. 

 And warm the frozen blood in every vein. 

 But since resistless fates denied that power, 

 On the cold nymph he rained a nectar shower. 

 Ah ! undeserving thus, he said, to die. 

 Yet still in odours thou shalt reach the sky. 



The body soon dissolved, and all around 

 Perfumed with heavenly fragrances the ground. 

 A sacrifice for gods uprose from thence — 

 A sweet, delightful tree of Frankincense. — Eusden. 



The tree which thus sprang from poor Leucothea's remains was a 

 description of Terebinth, now called Boswellia thurifera, which is 

 principally found in Yemen, a part of Arabia. Frankincense is an 

 exudation from this tree, and Pliny tells some marvellous tales 

 respecfting its mode of coUecftion, and the difficulties in obtaining it. 

 Frankincense was one of the ingredients with which Moses was 

 instru(51:ed to compound the holy incense (Exodus xxx.). The 

 Egyptians made great use of it as a principal ingredient in the 

 perfumes which they so lavishly consumed for religious rites and 

 funeral honours. As an oblation, it was burned on the altars by 

 the priests of Isis, Osiris, and Pasht. At the festivals of Isis an 

 ox was sacrificed filled with Frankincense, Myrrh, and other 

 aromatics. On all the altars erecfted to the Assyrian gods Baal, 

 Astarte, and Dagon, incense and aromatic gums were burnt in 

 profusion ; and we learn from Herodotus that the Arabians alone 

 had to furnish a yearly tribute of one thousand talents of Frank- 

 incense. Ovid recommends Frankincense as an excellent cos- 

 metic, and says that if it is agreeable to gods, it is no less useful 



to mortals. Rapin writes that " Phrygian Frankincense is held 



divine." 



" In sacred services alone consumed. 



And every Temple's with the smoke perfumed " 



Dr. Birdwood states that there are many varieties of the Frankin- 

 cense-tree, yielding different qualities of the "luban"or milky gum 

 which, from time immemorial, has sent up the smoke of sacrifice 



from high places. Distindt records have been found of the traffic 



carried on between Egypt and Arabia in the seventeenth century 

 B.C. In the paintings at Dayr al Bahri, in Upper Egypt, are 

 representations both of bags of Olibanum and of Olibanum-trees 

 in tubs, being conveyed by ships from Arabia to Egypt ; and among 

 the inscriptions deciphered by Professor Diimichen are many 



