74 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



| Red Sea. 



unite together like a paste ; they are then more esteemed, and become a rich 

 sweetmeat. Those which are dry and hard, are of little value. In Persia 

 a very excellent kind of brandy is made from dates ; in many plat es the 

 stones are ground to make oil, and with the paste which is left, they feed 

 the cattle and sheep. This is practised chiefly on the Coast of Arabia, in 

 the Persian Gulph, and at Muscat, where they find it a very nourishing diet. 

 Dates are seldom imported from India. 



He&modactyl is the root of a species of Cokhicum, growing in 

 Turkey and Arabia, of the shape of a heart, flat on one side, with a furrow 

 on the other ; of a whitish brown colour externally, internally white ; com- 

 pact anil solid, yet easy to cut or powder; it is about the size of a chesmit, 

 and has a viscous, sweetish, farinaceous taste, but no remarkable smell. 

 They should be chosen as fresh as possible, well dried, and free from the 

 worm, to which they are very subject. This article is seldom imported from 

 the East Indies. 



Jusctus Ojdoratus, or Squhmnthum, sweet rush, or camel's hay, is 

 the produce of Arabia and Turkey, whence it is exported in bundles about 

 a loot long, composed of smooth stalks, that bear some resemblance to 

 barley straws in shape and colour. The leaves are like those of wheat, and 

 it is full of a fungous pith : towards the tops of the stalks are sometimes 

 found short woolly spikes of imperfect flowers, set in double rows. The 

 sweet rush, when in perfection, has an agreeable smell, with a warm, some- 

 what bitter, but not unpleasant taste. 



Myrrh is a vegetable product of the gum-resin kind, distilling by 

 incision, and sometimes spontaneously, from a species of the genus amyris, 

 {Murr and Bo/ t Hind. Bolti f San.) It is generally in grains, from the 

 size of a pea to that of a horse-bean, or larger; the figure is as irregular 

 as the size ; round, oblong, or contorted. These grains are of a resinous 

 greasy substance, not hard to break ; colour, a reddish brown, With a mix- 

 ture of yellow ; smell, strongly aromatic ; and taste, acrid, warm, bitter, 

 though somewhat spicy. When broken, myrrh is often marked with small 

 white semi-lunar specks. It is to be chosen in clear pieces, light, friable, 

 unctuous, and of the bitterest taste, of a reddish brown colour: the foul 

 and black must be rejected. When pure, myrrh will dissolve in boiling 

 water; but as the h'quor cools, a portion of resinous matter subsides. 

 There are sometimes found among myrrh, hard shining pieces, of a pale 

 yellow colour, resembling gum Arabic, but without taste or smell ; some- 

 times masses of bdellium are mixed with it, which are darker coloured, 

 more opaque, softer than myrrh internally, and different in taste and smell. 

 Sometimes an unctuous gummy resin, of a moderately strong, but somewhat 



