BOOK XV. VII. 25-28 



it abounds, fire and water are not employed, but salt 

 is sprinkled on the pod and the oil is pressed out ; 

 for food it is disgusting, and it is of thin quahty for 

 burning in lamps. Amygdahnum, which some people 

 call neopum, is pressed out of bitter almonds, dried 

 and pounded into a cake that is sprinkled with water 

 and then pounded again. An oil is also made from 

 the bay-tree with an admixture of the oil of half-ripe 

 ohves ; some people merely press the oil out of the 

 berries, others use only the leaves, and some the leaf 

 and the outer skin of the berries, and also add styrax 

 gum and other scents. The best kind of bay-tree 

 for this is the broad-leaved wild laurel with black 

 berries. A similar oil also comes from the black 

 inyrtle, and the broad-leaved variety of this is the 

 best. The berries are sprinkled with hot water and 

 pounded, and then boiled down. Other people boil 

 down the softest of the leaves in oil and press out the 

 hquid, and others steep them in oil and allow them 

 to mature in the sun before putting them in the press. 

 The same method is also used in the case of the 

 cultivated myrtle, but the wild variety with a smaller 

 pod is preferred, the kind which certain people call 

 oxymyrsine, others ground-myrsine, and some 

 acorum " because of its resemblance to that plant, 

 as it grows low and bushy. 



Oil is also made from the citrus and the cypress, Otherirees 

 from walnuts — this is called caryinum,'' from apples ^ed^fo"^'' 

 and from the cedar called pisselaeon ; '^ also from grain "^cf^"^ "«'• 

 of Cnidus ^ by cleaning and pounding the seed, and 

 hkewise from mastich. As for the method of making 

 cypros-oil and also oil from an Egyptian berry for 

 the purpose of scents, we have spoken of it already. xii. 100. 

 The Indians are said to make oils from chestnuts and ^^^* 



307 



