MQUIRY INTO PLANTS, ix. iv. 6-8 



measure, and put down the price on the spot whence 

 they have taken the wares, and then the priest 

 comes and, having taken the third part of the price 

 for the god, leaves the rest of it where it was, and 

 this remains safe for the owners until they come and 

 claim it. 



Others report that the tree which produces the 

 frankincense is like mastich, and its fruit is like 

 the fruit of that tree, but the leaf is reddish : also 

 that the frankincense derived from young trees is 

 whiter and less fragrant, while that derived from 

 those which have passed their prime is yellower and 

 more fragrant ; also that the tree which produces 

 myrrh is like the terebinth, but rougher and more 

 thorny ; that the leaf is somewhat rounder, and 

 that, if one chews it, it resembles that of the 

 terebinth in taste ; also that of myrrh-trees too 

 those that are past their prime give more fragrant 

 myrrh. 



1 Both trees, it is said, grow in the same region ; 

 the soil is clayey 2 and caked, 3 and spring waters 

 are scarce. Now these reports are contradictory to 

 4 that which says that the country is subject to snow 

 and rain and sends forth rivers. However others 

 make the statement 5 that the tree is like the tere- 

 binth ; in fact some say that it is the same tree ; for 

 that logs of it were brought to Antigonus by the 

 Arabs who brought the frankincense down to the 

 sea, and that these did not differ at all from logs of 

 terebinth. 6 However these informants were guilty 



5 i.e. the statement quoted of the myrrh-tree, 7. The 

 ' tree ' is here the Xi&avwros, but these authorities did not 

 distinguish it from the myrrh -tree. See below. 



6 ruv conj. Sch.; T< UAld. 



239 



