BOOK XII. XXX. 53-xxxi. 56 



by the calculation of Eratosthenes a schoeiius measures 



40 furlongs, that is five miles, but some authorities 



have made the schoenus 32 furlongs. There are hills 



rising to a great height, with natural forests on 



them running right down to the level ground. It 



is generally agreed that the soil is clay, and that 



there are few springs and these charged with alkah. 



Adjacent to the Astramitae is another district, 



the Minaei, through whose territory the transit for 



the export of the frankincense is along one narrow^ Thc frank- 



track. It was these people who originated the trade '"^^"^^'^«'^^' 



and who chiefly practise it, and from them the per- 



fume takes the name of ' Minaean ' ; none of the 



Arabs beside these have ever seen an incense-tree, 



and not even all of these, and it is said that there are 



not more than 3000 famihes who retain the right of 



trading in it as a hereditary property, and that conse- 



quently the members of these famiUes are called sacred, 



and are not allowed to be polluted by ever meeting 



women or funeral processions when they are engaged 



in making incisions in the trees in order to obtain the 



frankincense, and that in this way the price of the com- 



modity is increased owing to scruples of rehgion. Some 



persons report that the frankincense in the forests be- 



longs to all these peoples in common, but others state 



that it is shared out among them in yearly turns. 



XXXI. Nor is there agreement in regard to the ap- The frank- 

 pearance of the incense-tree itself. We have carried ^^^^^^^''^^- 

 on operations in Arabia, and the arms of Rome have 

 penetrated into a large part of it; indeed, Gaius 

 Caesar, son of Augustus, won great renown from the 

 country; yet no Latin writer, so far as I know, has 

 described the appearance of this tree. The descrip- 

 tions given by the Greeks vary : some have stated 



39 



