262 ^ Treatise on 
having the Figure of a Dragon upon the Fruit;' 
but the Name of the Tree, I rather think, has 
given Occafion to fuppofe the Refemblance, which 
perhaps is no more than imaginary. But leaving 
this to the Decifion of others, we muft obferve that 
the Writers in Botany diftinguiffi four Species of 
Trees, from which the officinal Dragon’s Blood is 
procured. 
The firft is the Draco Arbor , Clafii Hift. i. C. B. 
P. 505. Palma prunifera , foliis Yucca , e qua San- 
guis Draconis Off.cinarum , Commcl. H. Amftel. It 
grows in the Canary JJlands , where the Juice in the 
Dog-Days, flows of itfelf through the Bark which 
is commonly full of Chinks, and in a ffiort Time 
grows hard and dry with the Sun. 
The fecond, Palma Amboinerjis , Sanguinem Dra- 
conis fundens altera , foliis et caudice undique Spinis 
longis , acutiffimis, nigris armata , D. Sherard , Dale 
pharma col. Supplem . Arundo far ll a Indite orient alis 
Sanguinem Drawnis manans , Hift. Oxon . Palma-Pinus 
five conifer a, J. B. 1. 398. Arundo Rotang, Bontii : 
Roitani Dsjerenang , Indorum : Arundo far A a feu 
Palma conifer a fpinofa , Kaempfer. Arnan. exotic . 552. 
This Tree grows in Molucca , Java, and other Parts 
of the Indies , bearing an oval fcaly Fruit, bigger 
than an Hafel-Nut, from which is obtained the 
Dragon’s Blood. The Method of procuring it, 
according to K^mpfcr, is this. They put the Fruit 
upon a Sort of Hurdle, over a Veflel, which is 
half full of Water. This Veflel being fet upon a 
Fire, the Vapour rifing up from the boiling Water 
renders the Fruit foft and flaccid, by which Means 
a red juice exudes and lodges upon its Surface. 
Afterwards it is feraped off with a Stick and in- 
clofed in Follicles made of Flags or the Leaves 
of a fort of Reed, which are hung upon Thread 
