BOOK XII. XXIX. 50-xxx. 53 



XXIX. Resembling these substances both in name Cardamom. 

 and in the shrub that produces it is cardamomum," 



the seeds of which are oblong in shape. It is gathered 

 in Arabia, in the same manncr as amomum. It has 

 four varieties : one very green and oily, with sharp 

 corners and awkward to crumble — this is the kind 

 most highly spoken of — the next sort a whitish red, 

 the third shorter and of a colour nearer black, while 

 an inferior kind is mottled and easily friable, and has 

 httle scent — in the true kind the scent ought to 

 be near to that of costus. Cardamomum also grows 

 in the country of the Medes.* The price of the best 

 sort is 3 denarii a pound. 



XXX. Next in affinity to cardamomum would Frank- 

 have come cinnamomum, were it not convenient '"*^^^- 

 first to catalogue the riches of Arabia and the 

 reasons that have given it the names of Happy 



and Blessed. The chief products of Arabia then 

 are frankincense and myrrh '^ ; the latter it shares 

 also with the Cave-dwellers' Country, but no 

 country beside Arabia produces frankincense, and 

 not even the whole of Arabia. x\bout in the middle 

 of that country are the Astramitae, a district of 

 the Sabaei, the capital of their realm being Sabota, 

 situated on a lofty mountain ; and eight days' 

 journey from Sabota is a frankincense-producing 

 district belonging to the Sabaei called Sariba — 

 according to the Greeks the name means ' secret 

 mystery.' The region faces north-east, and is 

 surrounded by impenetrable rocks, and on the right 

 hand side bordered by a seacoast with inaccessible 

 chffs. The soil is reported to be of a milky white 

 colour with a tinge of red. The forests measure 20 

 sckoeni in length and half that distance in breadth — 



37 



