THE FRANKINCENSE OF THE ANCIENTS. 
91 
Colebrooke, the whole of the supplies were understood to be received from Africa. 
Now we have no direct evidence to show that B. serrata has been found growing in 
a natural state, or even in a cultivated form in any part of Africa in sufficient 
quantity to yield even a small proportion of the gum used in those countries, and 
exported by them to other and distant nations, either in the time of the writers 
previously alluded to, or in any subsequent period. And yet the great supplies to 
Mecca and Cairo have been, and are still received from Africa along the deserts 
near the Red Sea ; and if we add to this the acknowledged superiority of the Turkish 
gum, to that from India, it would seem to warrant the conclusion that it is the 
product of another and differently habited plant. 
Now there has lately been discovered in the islands, and in the most sterile 
regions of the Continent of South-western Africa, a half succulent shrub growing 
in vast abundance, and producing a brittle resinous substance in considerable 
quantities, which is exceedingly fragrant, especially when burnt ; this gum-resin is 
collected as stated to be the incense of Africa. And, from what we have seen of it, 
there does not appear to us to be any perceptible difference betwixt it and the best 
Olibanum of the shops. Its habit is singular, and during the season of repose, 
when destitute of leaves, it has the appearance of a shrub of coral, and spreads its 
short leather-coated branches upwards like a candelabra. It is a plant of the 
composite order, and nearly related to those fleshy-stemmed shrubs from the Cape 
of Good Hope, which were formerly called Cacalias, but are now referred to the 
genus Kleinia. On the summit of the rugged branches grow a cluster of spathulate, 
bright green, veinless, somewhat succulent leaves, and from their axils a few solitary 
flower-heads of a pale yellow colour, placed on stalks scarcely so long as the leaves. 
It is not, however, a Kleinia, nor does it belong to any genus hitherto defined, 
but is a member of the division called by De Candolle, Erechthite^. It differs 
from Faujasia in the want of a calyculus, and in its abundant pappus; from 
Eriothrix in its involucre not being leafy ; from Stilpnogijne, in all the achsenia 
bearing pappus ; from Erecthites, in the achaenia not being rostrate, in the pappus 
being rough, in the florets of the ray not being toothed, and in the branches of the 
style not being terminated by a cone ; and finally, from Cremocephalum, in the 
involucrum not being many-leaved and calyculate, the achaenia not being ribbed, and 
the receptable not being fringed and thickened at the base. It is possible, however, 
that some of the plants doubtfully referred by He Candolle to Kleinia may belong 
to the same genus, especially his K. acaulis and subradiata. It is named Ceeadia 
in allusion to the horned appearance of its branches ; from Kepas, keras, a horn ; and 
furcata, from the singular forking of the branches ; and its English appellation, 
Coral-hmh, from the resemblance of the plant, when in a leafless state, to real coral. 
Little doubt rests on our mind but the above is the identical plant which 
furnishes the Frankincense of Arabia. The gum exudes in small pellucid tears or 
drops, like that of Boswellia serrata ; it is of a pale yellow colour ; it is somewhat 
hard and brittle ; it has a slightly bitter and fragrant resinous taste ; it possesses a 
