EX M LEE LC si; 
DR. G. BIRDWOOD ON THE GENUS BOSWELLIA. 138 
was the olibanum of commerce, and it was even denied that Arabia yielded any olibanum. 
But I will not anticipate. 
Derice’, in 1820, described a plant called Kafal by the Arabs of Fazogl, Galgalaan 
by the negroes of the country, and Loban-adan-culán in Sennar, and named it Amyris 
papyrifera. 
In MILBURN'S admirable work on Oriental Commerce, published in 1825, it is stated 
that Jedda, Aden, and Massowah import benjamin, and Zeyla and Berbera export 
olibanum, and that olibanum is procurable in the Persian Gulf. 
Of Berbera he writes that '*a fair is held here from October until April, and the 
caravans arriving from the interior during that period bring large quantities of gum- 
arabic and myrrh. Olibanum is chiefly produced on the coast, between * Barbora,’ or 
* Burbureea,' and Cape Gardafui, and exported in Arab vessels from a small port near 
Cape Felix [Mount Elephant of the ancients; Ras Fieluk ; Cape Felix, or Felles, of the 
Portuguese; Jibbel Feel, Capt. Saris; Baba-fileck, Hamilton, suprà]. A small proportion 
of these articles reaches Bombay and Europe; the largest part goes up the Red Sea to 
Egypt." 
Amongst the articles to be obtained at Calcutta and Bombay olibanum is not men- 
tioned by him. 
ENDLICHER, in 1838, described and figured his Plósslea floribunda’, obtained from 
Fazogl, and which Royle was one of the first to recognize as a Boswellia, and which is 
the same plant as Bruce's “ Angouah” and Delile's Amyris papyrifera. 
WELLSTEAD?, in 1838, and Johnston‘, in 1842-43, both stated that large quantities of 
olibanum are exported from the Soumali coast. Wellstead says, “two kinds of frankin- 
cense are brought here for exportation to Hindostan, one called Luban, from Hadramaut, 
which is a powerful aromatic, used in the temples and houses for fumigation; the other 
Luban mati, less fragrant, but preferred for chewing." Again, *In the mountains 
behind Saher and Makallah are found dragon's-blood [ Bdellium?] and frankincense trees. 
I have often seen the former, but never the latter." 
Haines’ also did not find the frankincense-tree in his examination of the Arabian 
coast “commencing from the entrance of the Red Sea, and continuing so far as 
Messenaad, in latitude 15? 13' N. and longitude 53° 43' 25" E.,” and he says that the 
frankincense exported from Makalla is imported from Berbera. 
CRUTTENDENS, in 1837, saw the frankincense-tree of Arabia, on his journey from 
Merbat to Dyreez, the principal town of Dejar, and in 1843 the frankincense-tree of 
the Soumali country”. He is reporting on the Mijjertheyn tribe of Soumalis, and says E 
“During the hot season, the men and boys are daily employed in collecting gums, which 
process is carried on as follows : about the end of February, or beginning of March, the 
Bedouins visit all the trees in succession, and make a deep incision in each, peeling off a 
narrow strip of bark for about five inches below the wound. This is left for a month, 
a i à Méroë: Pari ii. 2 Iconographia, 119-120; Nov. Stirp. Dec. n. 47. 
"à E teen vidis dies * Rene Southern Abyssinia: Lond. 1842-43. 
* Transactions of the Bombay Geo. Soc. xi. * Trans. Bombay Geo. Soc. i. 
' Trans. Bombay Geo. Soc. vii. 1846. 
