BALSAM OF MECCA. 383 



its graceful ligurc adorns the scenery of the country. It is 

 one of the most common productions of the desert from 

 Mecca to tJie Euphrates, and in the driest season, when all 

 vegetation around is withered, it never loses its verdure. 



The balessan or celebrated balsam of Mecca (the balm of 

 Gilead in Scripture) has been already noticed in the Botany 

 of Abyssinia. According to Burckhardt, Safra and Bedr are 

 the only j)laces in Hejaz where it can be obtained in a pure 

 state. The tree from which it is collected (called by the 

 Arabs heshcm) grows on Gebel Sobh and the neighbouring 

 mountains, and is said to be from ten to fifteen feet high, with 

 a smooth trunk and thin bark. In tiie middle of summer 

 small incisions are made in the rind ; from these the juice 

 immefliately issues, which is then taken off with the thumb- 

 nail and put into a vessel. The gum appears to be of two 

 kinds ; one of a white colour, which is most esteemed, the 

 other of a yellowish-white. The latter, which the Bedouins 

 bring to market in small sheepskin bottles, has a bitter taste 

 and a strong turpenthie smell. The people of Safra gen- 

 erally adulterate it with sesamum-oil and tar. When they 

 try its purity, they dip their finger into it and apply it to the 

 fire ; if it burn without giving pain or leaving a mark, they 

 judge it to be of good quality ; — if otherwise, they consider 

 it bad. The test mentioned by Bruce of letting a drop fall 

 into a cup of water, when the good falls coagulated to the 

 bottom and the bad swims on the surface, is unknown to the 

 Hejazees. The Bedouins, who sell it to the Safra Arabs, de- 

 mand two or three dollars a pound for it when quite genuine ; 

 \vhile the latter dispose of it to the hajjis, chiefly the Per- 

 sians, in an adulterated state, at five or six times the prirr/? 

 cost. The richer classes put a drop into the first cup of 

 coffee which they drink in the morning, from the notion that 

 it acts as a tonic. That which is sold at Mecca and Jidda, 

 for the (^airo market, always undergoes several adultera- 

 tions. The seeds are employed to procure abortion, but the 

 balm itself is used medicinally, and highly valued in the 

 harems on account of its cosmetic qualities. Forskal, who 

 gives a botanical description of this tree as a new species of 

 Atnyris, found one of theni in the open fields. Its appear- 

 ance was not beautiful ; but what seems very remarkable is, 

 that the inhabitants of Yemen, according to his account, were 

 ignorant of its qualities. They only burn the wdod as a 



