OLIBANUM. 135 



3. Boswellia No. 4, Oliver, op. eit — Bunder Murayah, Somali 

 Country (Playfair). Grows out of the rock, but sometimes in the 

 detritus of limestone ; never found on the hills close to the sea, but 

 fiu-ther inland and on the highest ground. Yields Lubdii Bedowi and 

 L. Skeheri ; was received at Kew as Mohr add, a name applied by 

 Birdwood also to B. Bkau-Dajiana. 



From the informations due to Captains Miles^ and Hunter and to 

 Haggenmacher* it would appear that the Beyo or Beyu of the Somalis 

 (Boido, Capt. Himter) is agreeing with this tree. 



4. BosweUia neglecta, S. Le M. Moore, in Jouim. of Botany, xv.(1877) 

 67 and tab. 18.5. This tree has been collected by Hildebrandt in the 

 limestone range, Ahl or Serrut, in the northern part of the Somali 

 Country. It occurs in elevations of 1000 to 1800 metres, and attains 

 a height of 5 to 6 metres. Its exudation, according to Hildebrandt, is 

 collected in but small quantity and mixed with the other kinds of 

 olibanum. Moore gives Murlo as the vernacular name of this tree, 

 Hildebrandt calls it Mohr add. 



In addition to the foregoing, from which the olibanum of com- 

 merce is collected, it may be convenient to mention also the follow- 

 ing: — 



1. BosweUia Frereaiia Birdw., a well-marked and very distinct 

 species of the Somali Country, which the natives call Yegaar. It 

 abounds in a highly fragrant resin collected and sold as Lubdn Meyeti 

 or Lubdn Mati, which we regard to be the substance orig in a l ly 

 known as Elenii (see this article). 



2. B. papyrifera Richard {Plosslea florihunda Endl.), the "Makar" 

 of Sennaar and the mountainous region ascending to 4000 feet above 

 the level of the sea on the Abyssinian rivers Takazze and Mareb. It 

 appears not to grow in the outer parts of north-eastern Africa. Its 

 resin is not collected, and stated by Richard^ to be transparent ; it 

 consists no doubt merely of resin (and essential oil ?) without gum.* 



3. B. thiirifera Colebr. (B. glabra et B. serrata Roxb.), the Salai 

 tree of India, produces a soft odoriferous resin which is used in the 

 country as incense but is not the olibanum of commerce. The tree is 

 particiilarly abundant on the trap hills of the Dekhan and Satpura 

 range. Berg, in " Offizinelle Gewachse," xiv. c. gives a good figure of 

 this species. 



History — The use of olibanum goes back to a period of extreme anti- 

 quity, as proved by the numerous references ' in the writings of the Bible 

 to incense, of which it was an essential ingredient. It is moreover well 

 known that many centuries before Christ, the drug was one of the 

 most important objects of the traffic which the Phoenicians® and 

 Egyptians carried on with Arabia. 



Professor Diimichen^ of Strassburg has discovered at the temple of 



^See his picturesque description of the ' As for instance, ExocL xxx. 34; IChron. 



tree, Joum. R. Oeograph. Soc. 22 (1872) x. 29 ; Matth. ii. 11. 



64. ^ '^•loveTS, Das phoniziscTie Alterthum, iii. 



- FlUckiger, Pharm, Joum. viii. (1878) (1856) 99. 299.— Sprenger, I.e. p. 299, also 



805. points out the importance of the olibanum 



' Tent. Florae Abyssinicae, L (1847) 248 ; with regard to the commercial relations of 



figure of the tree tab. xxxiii. those early periods. 



■• See the paper quoted in note 2. " Diimichen (Joannes), The fieet <jf an 



