3 /^'j5> 
Chap. 31.] THE TEEES THAT EEAR FEANKI]S"CEI3"SE. 125 
I Minsei were the first people who carried on any traffic in 
frankincense, which they still do to a greater extent than any 
other persons, and hence it is that it has received the appella- 
tion of ^^MinsDan." It is the Sabsei alone, and no other 
people among the Arabians, that behold the incense-tree ; and, 
indeed, not all of them, for it is said that there are not more 
than three thousand families which have a right to claim that 
privilege, by virtue of hereditary succession; and that for this 
reason those persons are called sacred, and are not allowed, 
while pruning the trees or gathering the harvest, to receive 
any pollution, either by intercourse with women, or coming in 
contact with the dead ; by these religious observances it is 
that the price of the commodity is so considerably enhanced. 
Some persons, however, say, that the right of gathering in- 
cense in the forests belongs to all these people in common, 
while others again state, that they take their turns year by 
year. 
CHAP. 31. THE THEES THAT BEAR ERANKINCENSE. 
Nor is it by any means agreed what is the appearance of 
the incense- tree. We have sent several expeditions against 
/Arabia, and the Eoman arms have penetrated into the greater 
part of that country ; indeed, Caius Caesar, the son of Augus- 
tus, even earned considerable renown there ; and yet this tree 
has been described by no Latin writer, at least that I know 
of The descriptions given of it by the Greek v^riters vary 
very considerably : some of them saj^ that it has exactly the 
leaf of the pear-tree, only somewhat smaller, and of a grass- 
green colour. Others, again, say, that it has a rather reddish 
leaf, like that of the mastich, and others, that it is a kind of 
terebinth, and that King Antigonus, to whom a branch of it 
was brought, was of that opinion. King Juba, in the work 
which he wrote and dedicated to Caius Csesar, the son of 
Augustus, who was inflamed by the wide-spread renown of 
Arabia, states, that the tree has a spiral stem, and that the 
branches bear a considerable resemblance to those of the Pontic 
maple, while it secretes a sort of juice very similar to that of 
See B. vi. cc. 31 and 32. He was the son cf Agrippa and Julia, the 
daughter of Augustus, by whom he was adopted. 
This seems the most probable among these various surmises and con- 
jectures. 
