FRANKINCENSE OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 181 



of Egypt, and were encamped in the desert; therefore, their 

 knowledge of Frankincense and other sweet-smelling substances 

 mentioned with it must have been acquired during their sojourn 

 in Egypt. Admitting that there is, however, no herb or tree 

 native of Egypt that can be identified as producing Frankincense, 

 and the other sweet-smelling substances mentioned in Exodus, 

 we must suppose that they came to Egypt by trade with other 

 countries, and it was long thought to have been the exudation of 

 some species of Juniper, and to have come from Mount Lebanon, 

 hence the Hebrew word Lcbonah for Frankincense ; also as the 

 Fir (Pimis halepensis) is a native of Palestine, and yields an 

 aromatic resin, it might with equal propriety, if not more so, 

 be supposed to be the Frankincense known in Egypt, to come 

 from Lebanon by trade from the ports of Tyre or Sidon. 

 Frankincense is not again mentioned till the time of Solomon, 

 when we find that it and other sweet-smellingj substances 

 were brought from the South (Arabia) as presents to Solomon 

 by the Queen of Sheba. In modern times much has been 

 ^vritten in order to determine the tree that yielded the Queen of 

 Sheba's Frankincense. Eecently, a plant supposed to be identical 

 with that tree has been discovered growing in Arabia yielding 

 Frankincense. It is a species of Bosivdlia, a genus of the 

 Myrrh family (Amarydacese), and has been named B. Carterii, 

 in honour of Mr. Carter, who was the first to figure and describe 

 it in 1843, and who conveyed a living plant of it from Arabia 

 to Bombay, which in 1859 was growing in the Agri-Horticultural 

 Society's Garden at Bombay. Frankincense is also produced by 

 two other species of Boswellia, namely B. Frereana and B. Bliau 

 Dajiana, which latter is included by some authorities under B. 

 Ca7ierii. These are natives of the Somali country of East 

 Africa, and furnish the principal part of the Frankincense of 

 commerce, more generally known as Olibanum. Frankincense 

 trees have winged leaves, and a general resemblance in appear- 

 ance to the mountain ash, though smaller, more straggling, and 

 much less graceful. Olibanum is also known to be produced by 

 B. thiLrifera, a tall tree, native of India, abundant in the pro- 



