iNCENSE-TREE COFFEE. 383 



smelling plants. Of the cotton-tree Niebuhr mentions two 

 species, one of which grows to some size, and the other bears 

 red flowers. The profits from the culture of this article are 

 inconsiderable, as most of the Arabs wear the cotton-cloths 

 of India and Egypt. 



The incense-tree, so famous in all antiquity, is not once 

 mentioned by Forskal : the travellers could learn nothing of 

 it, except that it was to be found in a part of Hadramaut. 

 where it is called oliban. The soil of the hills where it grows 

 is said to be of a clayey texture, impregnated with nitre. 

 Ibn Batuta, who visited Dafar and Hasec (A. D. 1328), says,. 

 " We have here the incense-tree, which is about the height 

 of a man, with branches like those of the artichoke ; it has 

 a thin leaf, v^hich, when scarified, produces a fluid like milk ; 

 this turns into gum, and is then called lahan, or frankin- 

 cense." Some French naturalists suppose it to be Bos^ccUia 

 dentata of Roxburgh, which is described as growing to a 

 considerable height on the mountains of Coromandel ;* but 

 this account does not agree with what the ancients say of 

 the incense-tree. According to Lord Valentia, the frankin- 

 cense is chiefly produced near Cape Guardafui, and is ex- 

 ported from a harbour of the Somaulies called Bunder Cas- 

 sim. It forms an article of trade with the Red Sea, and is 

 principally consumed in Catholic countries. As the natives 

 hold their own produce in no estimation, and make use of that 

 only which comes from India, we deem it unnecessary to add 

 any farther remarks to what has been already said of this 

 substance, as well as of myrrh, cassia, spikenard, with other 

 resinous and aromatic plants, in treating of the commerce of 

 the ancient Arabs. The name thus, by which it was known 

 to the Greeks and Romans, was superseded in the decline 

 of the Latin language by that of incense {incensum), from 

 the universal practice of burning it in the temples of their 



gods.t 



Coifee {Coffea Arabica) is a native of Abyssinia, and has 

 been noticed among the vegetable productions of that coun- 

 try. That it was introduced into Yemen by the Abyssinian 

 conquerors is highly probable ; and when the Koran prohib- 



* Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Hist. Nat. art. Encens. Roxburgh, 

 Plants of Coromandel. 



t Vol. 1 chap.v. p. 1G2. Eutrop. Rer. Rom. lib. xi. 

 Vol. II.— K k 



