BOOK XII. XXXVII. 75-xxxviii. 78 



sweat out, and consequently the plant is roUed up in 

 bundlcs by tying strings round it, and so made into 

 cakes. Therefore there are two varieties in each 

 kind, the natural sort mingled with earth and the 

 artiflcial ; the earthy sort is friable, whereas the 

 artificial sort is tough. 



It is also stated that there is a ladanum shrub in 

 Carmania and beyond Egypt, where plants of it were 

 introduced through the agency of the Ptolemies, or, 

 as others say, it is a throw-back from the incense- 

 tree ; and that it is collected Hke gum by making a 

 cut in the bark and received in goat-skin sacks. 

 The most highly approved kind is sold at a price 

 of 40 asses a pound. It is adulterated with myrtle 

 berries and with filth from the fleeces of other animals 

 beside the goat. When genuine it ought to have a 

 fierce scent, somehow suggesting the smell of the 

 desert, and though looking dried up it should soften 

 immediately to the touch, and when set Hght to 

 flare up with an agreeable scent ; but when adulter- 

 ated with myrtle-berries it can be detected by its 

 unpleasant smell, and it crackles in the fire. More- 

 over, the genuine ladanum has dust or rather bits of 

 stone from the rocks clinging to it. 



XXXVIII. In Arabia there is also an olive en- oiire-iree 

 dowed with a sort of tear out of which a medicine *'^'"**^- 

 is made, called in Greek enhaemon,** because of its 

 remarkable effect in closing the scars of wounds. 

 These trees grow on the coast and are covered by the 

 waves at high tide without this doing any harm to 

 the berry, aUhough accounts agree that salt is left 

 on the leaves. 



These trees are peculiar to Arabia, and it also has 

 a few in common with other countries, which we must 



VOL. IV. r 57 



