30 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR ITAMES BABOOL 



native of the northern parts of Asia, America, and Europe, and 

 in Scotland it is found in mountain moors. 



Babool, a name in India for Acacia aralica, (See Acacia.) 

 Bacaba (jEnoccciyiis Bacaba), a mng-leaved palm having a 

 smooth stem, attaining the height of 40 to 50 feet, producing 

 its leaves in t^ro distinct opposite rows, which is consequent on 

 the upper part of the stem being flattened. It grows in abun- 

 dance about Santarem in the region of the Amazon. Its fruit 

 is a beny produced in bunches weighing 30 or 40 lbs., and is 

 much prized by the natives, who make a pleasant drink by 

 rubbing the pulp off into water, w^hich has a milky appearance, 

 and an agreeable nutty flavour similar to the Assai drink made 

 of the berries of the Euterjpe edulis at Para. 



Bael or Bhel Fruit, a name in India for the fruit of jEgle 

 Marmelos, a small tree of the Orange family (Aurantiacese), 

 native of Coromandel, and other parts of India, producing a 

 fruit about the size of an orange, having a hard shell contain- 

 ing ten to fifteen cells, filled with tenacious transparent gluten, 

 which is delicious and fragrant ; it is used as an aperient, and in 

 other ways medicinally^ and is much esteemed. The dried 

 fruit is used in this country as an astringent. 

 Balata. {See Gutta-percha.) 



Balm. — This word first appears in the book of Genesis as the 

 name of one of the substances carried by the Ishmeelites from 

 Gilead into Egypt, and as it is mentioned with '' spicery " and 

 cc j>^jyr^\^^' leads us to believe that it was the produce of some 

 plant growing in the rocky country of Gilead. Bible com- 

 mentators are not agreed as to what plant it was that produced 

 this balm, but by most it is considered to have been the sap of 

 the Lentisk tree, Pistacia Lentiscics, a small tree of the Terebinth 

 family (Anacardiacea3), not exceeding 15 to 20 feet in height, and 

 about a foot in diameter, with winged smooth leaves of a pale 

 colour, and inconspicuous flowers. It is a native of "Western 

 Asia, and abounds throughout Palestine, especially in the rocky 

 country of Gilead. It has become naturalised in the Greek 

 islands and on the coasts of the Mediterranean; its sap is 



