Chap. 40.] 
STOBKUM. 
135 
All these trees are peculiar to Arabia, but it has some few 
besides, in common with other countries, of which we shall 
make mention elsewhere, the kinds growing in Arabia being 
of inferior quality. The people of that country have a won- 
derful regard for the perfumes of foreign parts, and import 
them from places at a considerable distance ; so soon are men 
sated with what they have of their own, and so covetous are 
they of what belongs to others. 
CKAP. 39, THE TREE CALLED BEATUS. 
Hence it is, that they import from the country of the 
Elymsei the wood of a tree called bratus,^^ which is similar in 
appearance to a spreading cypress. Its branches are of a 
whitish colour, and the wood, while burning, emits a pleasant 
odour; it is highly spoken of by Claudius Csesar, in his 
History, for its marvellous properties. He states that the 
Parthians sprinkle the leaves of it in their drink, that its smell 
closely resembles that of the cedar, and that the smoke of it is 
efficacious in counteracting the effects of smoke emitted by 
other wood. This tree grows in the countries that lie beyond 
the Pasitigris,^^ in the territory of the city of Sittaca, upon 
Mount Zagrus. 
CHAP. 40. THE TREE CALLED STOBRIJM. 
The Arabians import from Carmania also the wood of a 
tree called stobrum,^^ which they employ in fumigations, by 
steeping it in palm wine, and then setting fire to it. The 
odour first ascends to the ceiling, and then descends in volumes 
28 See B. vi. c. 31. 
'f^ Although the savin shrub, the Juniperus Sabina of Linnaeus, bears 
this name in Greek, it is evident, as Fee says, that PHny does not allude 
to it, but to a coniferous tree, as it is that family which produces a resinous 
wood with a balsamic odour when ignited. Bauhin and others would 
make the tree meant to be the Thuya occidentalis of Linnaeus ; but, as Fee 
observes, that tree is in reality a native originally of Canada, while the 
Thuya orientalis is a native of Japan. He suggests, however, that the 
Thuya articulata of Mount Atlas may have possibly been the citrus of 
lliny. 
'^^ See end of B. v. 
2^ All these are mentioned in B. vi. c. 31. 
^2 It is not known what wood is meant under this name. Aloe, and 
some other woods, when ignited are slightly narcotic. 
