THE MYRRH TREE. 
139 
the ports at which it was procurable in ancient times, which were Malao, Masylon 
and Aromata, perhaps our modern Tajoura, Zeila, and Berbera, on the eastern or 
Soumalee coast of Africa. The plant appears to have been known both to Strabo, 
Dioscorides, and Pliny, all of whom mention it as growing plentifully in the land of 
the Sabaaans ; and we are told that Alexander's army found vast numbers of Myrrh 
trees growing in the territory of the Gadrossi. 
Major Harris, in the " Annals of Natural History," describes the Myrrh tree as 
" growing abundantly on the Abyssinian coast of the Red Sea, over all the barren hill- 
sides of the low zone inhabited by the Danakil or Adaiel tribes. It is called Kurbeta, 
and there exist two varieties, one producing the better description of the gum, being 
a dwarf shrub, with deeply-serrated crisp leaves, of a dull-green ; while the other, 
which yields a substance more like Balm than Myrrh, attains the height of ten feet, 
and has bright, shining, slightly dentated leaves. The Myrrh called Hofali flows 
freely from any wound, in the form of a milky juice, possessing a perceptible acidity, 
which either evaporates, or becomes chemically changed during the formation of 
the gum. 
The seasons for collecting it are in January, when the buds appear, after the 
first rain, and in March, when the seeds are ripe. Every passer-by transfers such 
portions as he may find to the hollow boss of his shield, and exchanges it for a 
handful of tobacco with the next slave-dealer whom he meets on his caravan route. 
The merchants also of the sea-coast, before returning from Abyssinia, send into the 
forests that gird the western bank of the river Hawash, and bring away considerable 
quantities of the Hofali, which is sold at a high price. The natives administer it to 
their horses in cases of fatigue and exhaustion."* 
Various have been the opinions of modern travellers as to the particular species 
of plant which yields this valuable article. Some have thought it to be the Bal- 
samodendron Gileadensis (a), and have supposed the gum known by the name of 
Balsam of Gilead, to be obtained exclusively from B. opobalsamum. Others again 
judge that our supplies received from the East are procured from Colophonia 
Zeylanica, a plant growing plentifully both in Ceylon and in various parts of the 
Indian continent. 
Colophonia zeylanica, c, (the Balsamodendron zeylanicum of Kunth, and the 
Amyris zeylanica of Retz), forms a tree-like shrub fifteen feet or more in height. 
The leaves are pinnate ; pinnae five or seven, ovate, acute, and stalked. Racemes of 
flowers axillary, in interrupted clusters, involucrated, and downy. Calyx three- 
toothed. Petals three. Stamens six. Drupe dry, containing a three-celled bony 
seed. 
Nees von Esenbeck considers the species an undescribed one, and has given it 
the name of Balsamodendron Myrrha, whilst others again believe that the gum is 
supplied from B. Africanum, the Niouttout of Adanson, which is figured and 
described in our present volume of the " Magazine of Botany," page 93. 
* Gard. Chron. 
