ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IX. v. 3 -vi. 2 



When then they cut off the branches, they chop 

 them up into lengths of about two fingers' breadth 

 or rather more, and these they sew up in raw l 

 hide ; and then from the leather and the decaying 

 wood little worms are engendered, which devour the 

 wood but do not touch the bark, because it is bitter 

 and has a pungent odour. This is all .the in- 

 formation forthcoming about cinnamon and cassia. 



Of balsam of Mecca. 



VI. 2 Balsam of Mecca grows in the valley of 

 Syria. They say that there are only two parks in 

 which it grows, one of about four acres, the other 

 much smaller. The tree is as tall as a good-sized 

 pomegranate and is much branched ; it has a leaf 

 like that of rue, but it is pale ; and it is evergreen ; 

 the fruit is like that of the terebinth, in size shape 

 and colour, and this too is very fragrant, 3 indeed 

 more so than the gum. 



4 The gum, they say, is collected by making 

 incisions, which is done with bent pieces of iron at 

 the time of the Dog-star, when there is scorching 

 heat ; and the incisions are made both in the trunks 

 and in the upper parts of the tree. The collecting 

 goes on throughout the summer; but the quantity 

 which flows is not large ; in a day a single man can 

 collect a shell-full 5 ; the fragrance is exceeding 

 great and rich, so that that which comes from a small 

 amount is perceived for a wide distance. However 

 it does not reach us in a pure state ; what is collected 

 is mixed with other things ; for it mixes freely with 



words about the flower may have dropped out, to which this 

 clause refers ; cf. however Odor. 32. 

 4 Diosc. 1. 19. B Plin. 12. 117. 



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