‘502 
A M Y R I S. 
Haffelquift: defcribes the true balfam of Mecca as being 
yelloty and pellucid, with a moft fragrant refinous bal- 
lamic fniell ; as being very tenacious, and drawing out 
into long threads : that it is taken to three grains to 
ftrengthen a weak ftomach, and that it is a mod excellent 
remedy for wounds. To know whether it be adulterated, 
they drop fonte into a glafs of water ; if it remain dill on 
the furface, it is of little value ; but if it inftantly extend 
itfelf over the whole furface, and maybe taken off the 
water with a hair, (ilk, or thread, it is then of the beli 
kind. The drugs' ufed to adulterate this balfain, are oil 
of fefamum, Cyprus turpentine, and oftnch fat. Mr. 
Bruce has given two figures of the balfam tree ; one of 
the whole tree, the other a tingle branch with the diflec¬ 
tion of the fruit. Thefe he fays may be depended on, as 
being carefully drawn, after an exact examination, from 
two very tine trees brought from Beder Hunein. One of 
thefe was five feet two inches highjjrom where the red 
'root begins, or which was buried in the earth, to w here 
it divides itfelf firfl into branches. The trunk at thickeft 
was about five inches diameter, the wood light and open, 
and incapable of being poliihed, covered w ith a fmooth 
bark of bluifh-white, like a ftandard cherry-tree in good 
health, which has not above half that diameter ; indeed a 
part of the bark is a reddifh brown ; it flattens at top like 
trees that are expofed to fnow, blafls, or- fea-air, which 
gives it a ftunted appearance. It is remarkable for a pe¬ 
nury of leaves. The flowers are like thof'e of the acacia 
tree, white and round, only that three hang upon three 
filaments or (talks, w here the aeacia has but one. Two 
of thefe flowers fall off and leave a Angle fruit; the 
branches th’at bear this are the lhoots of the prefent year ; 
they are of a. reddiflt colour, and tougher than the old 
wood ; it is thefe that are cut off and put into little fag¬ 
gots, and fent to Venice for the theriaca, w hen bruifed 
or draw n by fire, and formerly thefe made the xylobal- 
famtmi. The great value fet upon this drug in the eaft 
remounts to very early ages. We know from fcripture, 
that the Iflvmaeiites, or Arabian carriers and merchants, 
'■trafficking with Indian commodities to Egypt, brought 
with them balm as part of the cargo. Strabo alone of all 
the ancients, has given us a true account of the place of 
its origin. “ Near to this,” fays he, “ is the molt happy 
land-of the Sabeans, and they are a very great people. 
Among thefe-frankincenfe, myrrh, and cinnamon, grow, 
and in the coaft that is about Saba, the balfam alfo.” 
Among the myrrh trees behind Azab, all along the coaft 
to the firaits of Babelmandel is its native country. It 
grows to a tree above fourteen feet high, fpontaneoufly 
and without culture, like the myrrh, the coffee, and 
frankincenfe, tree; they are all equally the wood of the 
country, and are occafionally cut down and ufed for fuel. 
We need not doubt but that it was early tranfplanted into 
Arabia, that is, into the fouth part of Arabia Felix, im¬ 
mediately fronting Azab : the high country of Arabia 
was too cold for it, being all mountainous, and water 
freezing there. The firft plantation that fucceeded feems 
to have been at Petra, the ancient metropolis of Arabia, 
now called Beder or Beder Hunein. Afterwards, being 
tranfplanted into Paleftir.e, it obtained the name of balfa- 
mum Ji/daicum, and balm of Gilead, and became an article 
of commerce there. Profpcr Alpintts fays, that Meffo- 
ner, an eunuch, governor of Cairo 1519, caufcd to be 
brought from Arabia forty plants, which he placed in the 
garden of Mattareah. Bellonius relates, that- in his time 
there were ten plants at Mattareah. There were none 
exifting when Mr. Bruce viiited Cairo, but fome of the 
Chriftians then living there remembered one plant in 
that garden. There were three productions from this 
tree very much efteemed’among the ancients. The firft 
was called opobaljamum or juice of the balfam, which was 
the fineft kind, compofed of that greenifli liquor found in 
the kernel of the fruit: the next w'as carpobalfamum, made 
by the expreflion of the fruit when in maturity : the third 
Was xylobaifamum, the v. orft of all; it was an expreflion or 
decoftion of the fmall'new twigs of a reddiflt colour. But 
the principal quantity of balfam in all times was produced 
by incilion, as at this. day. The wound is made by an 
axe, when the juice is in its ftrongeft circulation in July, 
Auguft, and the beginning of September. It is then 
received into a fmall earthen bottle, and every clay’s pro¬ 
duce is poured into a larger, which is kept clofely corked 
The Arabs Harb, a noble family of Beni Koreiftt are 
the proprietors of it, and of Beder, where it grows 
It is a flat ion of the emir Hadje, or pilgrims going to 
Mecca, half way between that city and Medina. Some 
books Ipeakofa white fort, brought by the caravans from 
Mecca; and others of a balfam of Judea, but thefe are 
counterfeits and adulterations. The balfam of Judea was 
loft long ago, but as late as Galen’s time it was growing ir 
many places of Paleftine befides Jericho. When Suftaii 
Selim conquered Egypt and Arabia in 1516, three pounds 
was then the tribute ordered to be fent to Conftantinople 
yearly, and this is ftill kept up. The remainder is fold Or 
fanned out to fome merchants; who, to increafe the quan¬ 
tity, adulterate it with oil of olives and wax, and feveral 
other mixtures, confulting only the agreement of colour • 
formerly, we are told, it was done with art, but nothin^ 
is eafier detected than this fraud now. It does not appear 
that the ancients had ever feen this-plant, they defcribe it 
fo vanoully; and Profper Alpinns corroborates the errors 
of the ancients, by faying it is a kind of vine (viticofusV. 
I he figure he has given is a very bad one. The juice 
when firft received into the bottle from the wound is of 
a light yellow colour, apparently turbid, in which’there 
is a whitifh caff, which arifes from the globules of air that 
peivade the whole in its firft (fate of fermentation • it then 
appears very light upon (baking. As it fettles and cools' 
it turns dear, and 'lofes that milkinefs.- It then has the 
colour of.honey, and appears more fixed and heavy than 
at firft. Alter being kept fome years, it becomes of t . 
nuicn deeper- yellow, and of the colour of gold, but con¬ 
tinues perfedtly fluid, and lofes very little of tafte, fmell 
or weight. The fmell at firft is violent and ftrondv pun- 
gent, like that of volatile falts,- In its pure and frefti 
ltate it dillolves eaiily in water. If dropton a woollen cloth 
it will vvafh out eaftly, and leaves no (lain. If is of an 
acrid, rough, pungent, tafte; is ufed by the Arabs in ail 
complaints of the ftomach and bowels, is reckoned a 
powerful antifpetic, and of life in preventing anv infection 
of the plague. Thefe qualities it enjoysVprob'ably in com¬ 
mon-with balfam of Tolu, Peru, &c. which we have 
received from America-. It is always ufed and particu¬ 
larly efteemed by the ladies, as a cofmetic ; as fiich if has 
kept up its reputation in theeaft to this day. The manner 
of applying it is>this: you firft go into the tepid bath till 
the pores are fufficiently opened, you then anoint yourfeif 
mth a fmall quantity, and as much as the veffels will ab- 
forb ; never>fading youth and beauty are faid to be the 
confequences. 
6. Amyris toxifera, or poifon afh : leaves pinnate ; leaf- 
lets petiolate, plane. Cateiby defcribes his^poifon-wood' 
as a fmall tree, with a light-coloured fmooth bark. The 
mid-rib of the leaf as feven or eight inches loim, and the 
pedicles as an inch in length. The fruit as hanmn"-in 
bunches, (haped like a pear, off a purple colour, coverin'^- 
an oblong hard (tone. From the.- trunk a liquor diftils al- 
black as ink, which the inhabitants fay is poifon. Birds 
feed on the fruit. Native of America. 
7 - Amyris protium : leaves pinnate, leaflets petiolate 
waved. Native of the Eaft Indies. Perennial. 
8. Amyris ambrofiaca : leaves pinnate, petiolate; pani^ 
cles crowded, axillary. A tree with a trunk thirty feet 
high, branching at the top. The whole tree is extremely 
fweet-fcented, and pours out a very odorous balfam from 
the wounded trunk-or branches, which is ufed in the dy- 
fentery ; the dofe is one drachm in red wine : this is alfo 
ufed in houfes and churches to burn as a perfume. It 
grows in the woods of Guiana and by thefea-ftiore, flower¬ 
ing and fruiting in September. 
9. Amyris 
