164 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[August 27, 1870. 
ground, and is thicker than a man’s leg, and has a smooth 
bark like purslane. But others, who say they have seen 
them, nearly all agree concerning their size, namely, 
that neither, of the trees is large, the myrrh-tree being the 
smaller and lower [of the two]. And they state that the 
frankincense bears a resemblance to a laurel and that it 
has a smooth bark, but that the myrrh is prickly and not 
smooth, and that it has a leaf like the elm, only crisp and 
prickly at the top, like the ilex tree. And they say that 
in a voyage they were making from the Bay of Heroes, 
they disembarked to search for water on the mountain, 
and thus saw the trees and the mode of collecting [the 
frankincense]. And that the trunks and boughs of both 
were incised; but that the former appeared to have been 
cut, as it were, by an axe and the latter to have had 
more gentle incisions; and that the drops partly fell 
down and partly remained on the tree. And that in 
in some places mats woven of palm-leaves were placed 
underneath, while in others the ground underneath was 
hardened and kept clean; and that the frankincense on 
the mats was pure and transparent, but that on the 
ground less so; and that they scraped off what adhered 
to the trees with knives, so that the bark stuck to some 
of them. And they said that the whole mountain was 
divided amongst the Sabseans; for that they were the lords 
[of the place], and that they were just towards one another, 
on which account no one kept any guard [over his own 
property] ; and that having themselves taken thence an 
abundance of frankincense and myrrh, which they placed 
in their ships, none of the inhabitants being present, they 
had sailed away. And these both told this and said that 
they heard that the myrrh and frankincense is gathered 
together on every side to the temple of the Sun; and 
that this belongs to the Sabseans, being by far the most 
sacred thing in the country, and that certain armed 
Arabs have the custody of it; and that when they bring 
it, each, heaping up his own frankincense and the myrrh 
in a similar way, leaves them with the keepers, and 
placing upon the heap a little tablet, stating the number 
of measures and the price at which each measure is to be 
Bold; and that when the merchants come they inspect 
these tablets, and having measured any heap that pleases 
them, they put the price of it in the place from which it 
is taken; and that the priest then coming takes a third 
part of the price for the god and there leaves the re¬ 
mainder, which is kept safe for the owners until they 
come and take it. But certain others say that the frank¬ 
incense-tree is like the lentisck, and its fruit to the berries 
of the same, and that the leaf of it is reddish; and that 
the frankincense from the young tree is whiter and less 
fragrant, while that from the older trees is yellowish and 
more fragrant; and that the myrrh-tree is like the tere¬ 
binth, but rougher and more thorny and the leaf a little 
rounder, and, if chewed, resembling the terebinth in 
taste; and that of these, also, the older are the more 
fragrant. And that both grow in the same place, 
and that the ground [there] is argillaceous and flaky, 
and that springs of water are rare. These things, how¬ 
ever,. are contradictory [to the statement] that it snows 
and is wet in that locality] and that rivers issue from 
it. And others also say that it is like the terebinth, and 
others that it is the terebinth itself; for that specimens 
of the wood were brought to Antigonus by the Arabs who 
Conveyed the frankincense, and that they differed in no¬ 
thing from the terebinth. These, however, showed still 
greater ignorance, for they thought both the frankin¬ 
cense and the myrrh grew on the same tree. On which 
account, the report brought by those that sailed from 
the City of Heroes is more credible; since the frankin¬ 
cense-tree that grew above Sardis, in a certain temple, 
has a leaf like the laurel, if from this we can form a con¬ 
clusion, and the frankincense produced from it, whether 
from the trunks or branches, is like the other frankin¬ 
cense in appearance and smell when it is burnt. An d 
this tree alone grew without [any culture]. And some 
say that the frankincense grows more abundantly in 
Arabia, but more beautifully in the neighbouring islands, 
over which the Arabs have sway; for there they make 
figures upon the trees of whatever they like; which is 
not incredible, as they admit of any incisions that per¬ 
sons may wish to make in them. Some of the grains 
also are very large, in bulk as much as a handful, and in 
weight more than the third part of a mina. All frankin¬ 
cense is brought to the market in a rough state, similar 
in appearance to the bark of a tree; but of myrrh there 
are two kinds, the one in drops and the other in moulds. 
The quality is judged by the taste; and from this they 
choose what is of uniform colour. Concerning frankin¬ 
cense and myrrh, this is nearly as much as we have 
heard up to the present time.” 
Diodorus (about b.c. 50) gives a long account of this 
substance, in which he gives a very glowing description 
of Arabia the Happy, where the air is so highly perfumed 
with frankincense and other odoriferous trees “ that it 
even ravishes the senses with delight, as a thing divine 
and unutterable,” and the perfume is wafted out to sea, so 
that those sailing near the coast are entertained “ with 
its pleasures and delights.” He also gives credence to 
the myth of the trees being surrounded by fearful ser¬ 
pents. Speaking of an island off the coast of Arabia 
called Holy Island, on which no one was allowed to bury 
their dead, he says,— 
“The sacred isle produces frankincense, and in that 
abundance as suffices for the service and worship of the- 
gods all the world over; it has likewise plenty of myrrh, 
with other odoriferous spices of several sorts, which 
breathe out a most fragrant smell. The nature of frank¬ 
incense, and the manner of getting it, is thus: the tree 
is very small, like to the white Egyptian thorn, and bears 
a leaf like to the willow; it puts forth a flower of a 
golden colour; from the bark of this tree, by incision 
made, distils the frankincense in drops like tears.” 
Strabo (b.c. 54-a.d. 24) says,— 
“ Frankincense is produced in Catabania, and in the 
parts of Arabia opposite. Here the frankincense- 
tree grows along the banks of the Isis and Niius. The 
country of the Sabasi produces not only frankincense but 
balsam, sweet-smelling palms, calamus, and larimnum, a* 
most fragrant perfume. By the trade in these aromatics 
the Sabseans and the Gerrhaei have become the richest 
of all the tribes.” 
Pliny (a.d. 23-79), too, gives a long account, agreeing 
in most particulars with Theophrastus. He says that 
the gum was at first only collected once a year, but when 
a greater demand sprang up, the inhabitants “ feeling 
the sweetnesse of the gaine,” made a double vintage,. 
—the first and best in summer, about the dog-days, 
and the second in the spring; the first being called 
Carpheotum, and the second or spring crop, much infe¬ 
rior to the first, Dathiatum. 
Ptolemy (about a.d. 150), in his Geography, places the 
Libanotophoros, or thuriferous region, between Makalla 
and Muscat. 
The casual notices of frankincense by the Latin poets 
and historians are, as Dr. Birdw 7 ood observes, very valu¬ 
able in the present argument and are very numerous.. 
The most pertinent of them are quoted by Celsus in his 
1 Hierobotanicon,’ who “ makes a very determined effort 
to exhaust all the learning on the subject,” and “very 
well proves how impossible it is to be universally learned 
on even so infinitesimal a subject as frankincense.” 
The high honour in which frankincense was held by 
the ancients is shown by its being one of the three gifts 
brought by the Magi to the infant Saviour. 
The Arabian w 7 riters all agree that frankincense is 
produced in the Hadramaut, though Serapion and Avi¬ 
cenna copy Dioscorides’ mistake in saying it was also 
produced in India. Ibn Batuta says:— 
“Leaving Zofar (Dofar, Lee; Sepliar of the BibleF 
G.B.), I proceeded to sea tow r ards Amman, and on the 
second day put into the port of Hasik, where many Arab 
fishermen reside. We have here the incense-tree. This 
tree has a thin leaf, which, when scarified, produces a fluid 
like milk, this turns into gum, and is then called loban , 
or frankincense.” 
Marco Polo, a European writer, says of the city of 
Escier, or Escher:— 
“ This district produces a large quantity of white frank¬ 
incense of the best qualitv, winch distils, drob by drop,. 
