KE«1^A BENZUE. 405 



same record, the price of benzoin (heijoim) in Alexandria was 1 cruzado 

 per arratel, lialf the value of aloes wood. 



The Portuguese traveller Barbosa^ visited in 1511 Calicut on the 

 Malabar Coast, and found Benzui to be one of the more valuable items 

 of export, one farazola (22 lb. G oz.) costing 65 to 70 fanoes ; camphor 

 fetched nearly the same price, and mace only 25 to 30 fanoes. From 

 other sources we gather that benzoin was an article of Venetian trade 

 in the beginning of the 16th century. 



Garcia de Orta, writing at Goa (1563), was the first to give a lucid 

 and intelligent account of benzoin, detailing the method of collection, 

 and distinguishing the drug of Siam and Martaban from that produced 

 in Java and Sumatra. 



It began then to be regularly imported into Europe,- being frequently 

 called Asa dulcis. The chemists of that time submitted it, like many 

 other substances, to dry distillation. Benzoic acid occasionally 

 separating from the oily products ("oleum Benzoes") was noticed 

 already by Nostredame,^ Rosello,* Liebaut,' Blaise de Vigenere,^ and 

 others. It was a common pharmaceutical preparation, under the name 

 of Ftores Benzoes, since the 17th century.' 



In the early part of the 17th century, there was direct commercial 

 intercourse between England and both Siam and Sumatra, an English 

 factory existing at Ayuthia (Siam) until 1623 ; and benzoin was doubt- 

 less one of the commodities imported. The import duties levied upon 

 it in England in 1635 amounted to 10«. per Ib.^ 



Production — Benzoin is collected in Northern and Eastern 

 Sumatra, especially in the Batta country, lying southward of the state 

 of Achin.*^ The tree grows in plenty also in the highlands of Palembang 

 iu the south and its resin is collected. It is chiefly on the coast regions 

 that considerable plantations are found. Teysmann saw the cultivation 

 in the ti'acts of the river Batang Leko, the trees being planted about 

 15 feet apart. The benzoin from the interior is mostly from wild trees, 

 which occur at the foot of the mountains at an elevation of 300 to 

 1000 feet. 



The trees, which are of quick growth, are raised from seeds 

 grown on the [edges of ?] rice-fields ; they require no particular 

 attention. beyond being kept clear of other plants, until about 6 or 

 7 yeai-s old, when they have trunks 6 to 8 inches in diameter, and 



1 Fluckiger, I.e., page 14. ' Fliickiger, Pharm. Journ. \\. (1876) 



■^ Cardanus, Les livres de la suhtilite, 1022. 



Paris, 1556 (first edition, 1550), page 160 * The Bates of Marchandizes, London, 



b. states: " belzoi est de vil prix ponr 1635. 



I'abondance. " ^ ^liqael, Prodromus Florce Sumatrance, 



^ Excellent el moult utile opuscule a touts 1860. 72 ; Marsden, Hhit. of Sumatra, 



necessaire qui deslrent avoir cognoissance de London, 1783. 123. — The latter author 



plusieurs exquises receptes, 1556. resided at Bencoolen, as an oiEcial of the 



* Alexii Pedeniontani (or Hieron. English Government. 



Rosello), De secretis libri vi., Basil, 1560, The statement of Cra^-furd, I.e., that 



page 107. benzoin is collected in Borneo "ow the 



^ Quatre livres de secrets de medecine. et northern coast in the territory of Brunni " is 



'le la philosophie chimique, Paris, 1579, to us inexplicable. Mr. St. John, British 



page 146. Consul in Borneo, in an official report on 



' Traicte du feu et du sel, Paris, 1622, the trade of Brunai, dated from that place 



page 99. — Vigenere speaks distinctly of 29 January 1858, enumerates the various 



"filamens ou aiguilles," i.e. crystals. — He productions of the district, but does not 



died in 1596. name benzoin. 



