Gidph of Persia .] ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



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packages, and much of it be lost It has been imported in powder, which 

 has been of a beautiful yellow colour. Freight 20 Cwt. to a ton. 



Bdellium is produced in Persia and the East Indies, from a tree or 

 plant not well known, and is externally of a reddish brown, somewhat like 

 myrrh ; internally clear, and not unlike glue ; in loose drops, not concreted 

 into cakes. Some of these drops are as large as hazel nuts, many less than 

 a pea, and some few of considerable size ; they are seldom regularly round, 

 often crooked, and of an irregular shape. Tins gum is moderately heavy 

 and hard ; taken into the mouth, it grows soft and tough, in the manner of 

 mastic; its smell is not disagreeable; its taste inclines to bitter, but not so 

 much as that of myrrh; it readily takes fire, and burns very briskly with 

 a white bright flame, crackles all the time, and frequently throws small 

 fragments of matter to the surface of the flame. It should be chosen some- 

 what transparent, the more so the better, of a bitter taste, and dusky red- 

 dish brown colour ; moderately heavy and hard, becoming soft and tough 

 in the mouth. It entirely dissolves in verjuice or vinegar. Freight 16 Cwt. 

 to a ton. 



Bezoar. — This medicinal stone, to which extraordinary qualities were 

 formerly attributed, has latterly been much more lightly esteemed. It 

 grows in the stomach of an animal of the goat kind, inhabiting the moun- 

 tains in various parts of Persia and India. The genuine Oriental bezoar is 

 commonly of an oval form, and between the size of a hazel nut and a 

 walnut ; if larger, it is more valuable ; if smaller, of little value. This 

 stone is externally smooth and glossy, and composed of several shining 

 coats, like an onion, enclosing either a powdery substance, or a nucleus, 

 round which they are formed. The colour most valued, is a shining olive, 

 or dark green ; but there are some whitish, some grey, and some of a dull 

 yellow. Purchasers should be careful in chusing this drug. The real 

 bezoar has little smell, and no taste. It should be as large as possible ; the 

 very small pieces should be entirely rejected, as they are most commonly 

 increased with factitious substances. When a red hot needle, on entering 

 the bezoar, occasions it to fry and shrivel, it is not genuine; if it only 

 throws off a small scale or crust without entering, it is good. If on rubbing 

 .it over paper, previously smeared with chalk or quick lime, it leaves a 

 yellow tint on the former, or a green one on the latter, it is a good stone. 

 If the bezoar, after soaking five or six hours in lukewarm water, remains 

 unchanged in weight, colour, or consistence, it is genuine. Nor should it 

 appear affected by rectified spirit any more than by water. The powder, 

 after agitation with water or spirit, subsides uniformly and totally, leaving 



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