132 DR. G. BIRDWOOD ON THE GENUS BOSWELLIA. 
tree; and, in fact, until a very few years ago (1832) Juniperus Lycia was generally held 
to be the frankincense-tree. x 
NIEBUHR is always cited as an authority in this controversy ; and the statement attri- 
buted to him is :—** We could learn nothing of the tree from which incense distils, and 
Mr. Forskal does not mention it." But this is not what Niebuhr says, but only Heron's 
(Edinburgh, 1792) very free and easy translation of what he says. But even Heron's 
translation continues, “I know that it is to be found in a part of Hadramaut, where it 
is called oliban. But the Arabians hold their own incense in no estimation, and make 
use only of that which comes from India. Probably Arabian incense was so called 
amongst the ancients, because the Arabians traded in it, and conveyed it from India to 
the ports of Egypt and Syria." 
Now, what Niebuhr says in the * Description de l'Arabie, Copenhagen, 1773, is, in 
epitome, this:—Anciently Arabia was not less celebrated for its incense than for its 
gold; but all the incense received from Arabia was not produced there. Arrian and 
others have shown that much was imported from Abyssinia and India, and from beyond 
it. Indeed it is chiefly eultivated in Arabia, about Merbat, Scháhr (Sheher), and 
the kind called Ziban by the Arabs, and frankincense by the English, which is the 
worst of all. The Arabs get other kinds from Abyssinia, Sumatra, Siam, Java, and 
amongst these what they call Bacher Java, and the English benzoin, and the poorest 
sort of which is esteemed better than the best frankincense. One may conclude from 
this, that many kinds passed in ancient times under the names of Arabian incense, 
although from countries far beyond it. In this way Arabian coffee is called, in Europe, 
Levant coffee. The Arabs do not set much on their olibanum; for they import the 
incense of India [* l’encens des Indes ” (benzoin ?)] and the mastic of Scio (p. 126). 
Moses, he testifies, in Genesis, names the cities of Yemen and Hadramaut, as if he 
had personally known them. Hadramaut is the Hatzarmaveth of Moses, which signifies, 
in Hebrew, the Court of Death, and, in Arabic, the Region of Death. In the Hadra- 
maut, Dafar, Merbat, and Hafeck export the best olibanum (pp. 245-255). 
BRUCE, in the Atlas to his Travels (Edinburgh, 1805), figures a plant which he says is 
called Angouah by the people about the Tacazze, and believed by the Abyssinians to yield 
true frankincense; and he adds, “in reality it produces a gum much resembling it.” It 
is undoubtedly the Boswellia papyrifera of Richard. But botanists seem never to have 
given Bruce the credit of the discovery of this plant. Stackhouse’ lays no stress on the 
plant, merely observing, “ Libanus vel Libanotos Theophrasti. This, according to 
Sprengel, is the Amyris Kataf of Linnæus [Forskäl?|. It is to be regretted that the 
description of Theophrastus is so incorrect as not to ascertain the point.” Royle’ merely 
remarks that the B. serrata of Roxburgh is not Bruce’s plant. Bruce observes that the 
frankincense land stretches from Abyssinia away to Cape Gardafui?. 
COLEBROOKE, in 1807‘, proved that an exudation allied to frankincense was yielded by 
the Boswellia serrata of Roxburgh, now known under the name of B. thurifera, Cole- 
brooke. As soon as Colebrooke’s discoveries became known, it was concluded that this 
' Extracts from Bruce’s Travels: Bath, 1815. * Pharm. Journal, v. 541 : 1845. 
* Travels, vol. i. p. 356. * Asiatic Rescarches, vol. ix. Caleutta, 1807; Linn. Trans. vol. xv 
