ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IX. m. 3 -iv. 2 



go to rest, in case the fire should come through ; and 

 they offer sacrifice and keep holiday, praying that 

 the pitch may be abundant and good. Such is the 

 manner in which the people of Macedonia make 

 pitch by fire. 



They say that in Asia in the Syrian region they 

 do not extract the pitch by cutting l out of the tree 

 the wood containing it, but use fire to the tree itself, 

 applying an instrument fashioned on purpose, 2 

 with which they set fire to it. 3 And then, when 

 they have melted out the pitch at once place, they 

 shift the instrument to another. But they have a 

 limit and indications when to stop, chiefly of course 

 the fact that the pitch ceases to flow. They also, as 

 was said before, 4 use fire to get pitch out of the 

 terebinth ; for the places where this tree grows do 

 not produce the fir. Such are the facts about 

 resin and pitch. 



Of frankincense and myrrh : various accounts. 



IV. As to frankincense myrrh balsam of Mecca 

 and similar plants it has been said that the gum is 

 produced both by incision and naturally. Now we 

 must endeavour to say what 5 is the natural character 

 of these trees and to mention any peculiarities as to 

 the origin of the gum or its collection or anything 6 

 else. So too concerning the other fragrant plants ; 

 most of these come from places in the south and east. 



Now frankincense myrrh cassia and also cin- 

 namon are found in the Arabian peninsula 7 about 



3 Tovrcf irfpiairrovras seems to have been G's reading (Seal.) ; 

 TOVTO irepia\fi<povTas MSS. * 9. 2. 2. 



6 irola conj. W.; TTOAATJ Aid. 6 TI before r>v add. Sch. 

 conj. Salm.j X'fy? vi\ff(f Aid. cf. Plin. 6. 28. 



