BOTANICAL ORIGIN AND COUNTRY OF MYRRH. 



381 



Whether it is true myrrh which is produced in these districts 

 of the Somali country, or whether it is another kind of myrrh 

 called by the Arabs Bisa-b6l, and which is chiefly consumed in 

 India and China, is an open question. 



Again, it has been stated on very good authority, that myrrh 

 is produced in the country lying between Tajura and Shoa. Sir 

 W. Cornwallis Harris, who was chief of a mission to the latter 

 country in 1841, found the myrrh-tree between Waramilli and 

 Naga Koomi, that is, about 200 miles from Tajura, on the road 

 to Ankober, the capital of Shoa. In an appendix to his narrative* 

 he names as localities for the plant the Adal desert, the jungle 

 of the Hawash, and the borders of Efat. 



1873. 



Sir W. C. 

 Harris. 



It will thus be seen that four districts are asserted to produce Four supposed 

 myrrh, namely 1, the country about Ghizan, on the eastern sources - 

 shore of the Red Sea ; 2, the southern Arabian coast eastward 

 of Aden ; 3, the Somali country south and west of Cape Garda- 

 fui ; and 4, the region lying between Tajura and Shoa, including 

 Harar to the south-east. 



Furthermore, there are certainly three varieties of myrrh, 

 which may well be derived from as many distinct species of 

 myrrh-tree. 



AVhat are required for the botanical elucidation of the origin 



