72 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



[Red Sea. 



drop like oil, the balsam is adulterated. If, on the contrary, it spreads 

 upon the surface of the water, like a very thin cobweb, scarcely visible 

 to the eye, and being congealed, may be taken up with a pin or small 

 straw, the balsam is pure and natural. Or if the pure balsam be dropped 

 on woollen, it will wash out ; but if adulterated, it will not. The genuine, 

 dropped into milk, coagulates it. When a drop of the pure balsam is let 

 fall on red hot iron, it gathers itself into a globule ; but oil or spurious bal- 

 sam runs, and sheds itself all round. The genuine balsam also feels viscid 

 and adhesive to the fingers. If sophisticated with wax, it is discovered by 

 the turbid colour, never to be clarified ; if with honey, the sweet taste be- 

 trays it; if with resins, by dropping ifon live coals, it yields a blacker 

 flame, and of a grosser substance than the genuine. When the balsam ia 

 too thick to be taken out of the bottle, it need only be placed near the fire, 

 the smallest degree of heat liquifying it The bottles must not be quite full, 

 lest they should break, as the balsam is apt to rarify. 



Amyru Qpa-Balmmum is the name of the tree whence the balsam 

 issues ; Opa-Balsamum is the name of the juice or balsam ; Carpo-Ralsa- 

 mum, the fruit ; and Xylo-Balsamum, the wood : these are all usefuL 



CAE.ro Bals amtm should be chosen fresh, plump, ponderous, of a hot 

 biting taste, smell in some degree like the balsam. Hypericum is sometimes 

 mixed with it, which may be discovered by its excess in size, vacuity, want 

 of virtue, and peppery taste. The berries are about the size of a small pea, 

 sharp at the end, brown, with a small stalk. Reject such as are broken, 

 decayed, and worm-eaten. 



Xylo-Balsamum should be chosen in small knotty rods, the rind red, 

 the wood white, resinous, and having a scent somewhat like the balsam. 



Freight is charged on Balm of Gilead at the rate of 16 Cwt. to the ton. 



Civet. — This substance is soft, unctuous, aud odoriferous, nearly the 

 consistence of butter, produced by an animal called the Civet Cat. They 

 are confined in cages, and when irritated, throw out the civet, which is 

 carefully scraped off. It is brought from the Brazils, Guinea, and Uks 

 interior of Africa ; it is of a dark brown colour, unctuous, somewhat re- 

 sembling Labdanum, of a very powerful smell, far from fragrant or 

 agreeable. Its principal use is as a perfume, and when genuine, is worth 

 from 30s. to 40s. per ounce. The best is said to come from the Brazils, of a 

 lively whitish colour, which becomes dark by keeping. If paper is rubbed 

 with civet, and it will bear writing on afterwards, it is considered genuine. 



Coffee. — There is but one species of the coffee tree, the Coffea 

 Arabica, supposed to be a native of Arabia ; it seldom rises more than 16 

 or 18 feet in height: the main stem grows upright, and is covered with a 



