ON  THE  FRANKINCENSE  TREE  OF  WESTERN  AFRICA.  339 
odoriferous  qualities  to  one  of  those  enterprising  Jesuit  mission- 
aries who  visited  Africa  during  the  sixteenth  century.  This 
personage  carried  with  him  to  Europe,  on  his  return,  a  small 
sample  of  this  gum,  and  so  highly  were  its  fragrant  properties 
appreciated,  when  used  in  lieu  of  the  ordinary  incense,  that  this 
production  would  have  become  a  valuable  commercial  export,  had 
not  the  premature  death  of  the  priest,  from  the  debilitating  effects 
of  climate,  rendered  abortive  all  attempts  to  ascertain  the  source 
from  whence  he  had  derived  his  supply. 
The  negro  communities  of  tropical  Africa,  especially  the  female 
portion,  have  from  a  primitive  age  been  in  the  habit  of  selecting 
several  fragrant  and  aromatic  gums,  woods,  roots,  and  leaves, 
with  a  variety  of  other  substances  from  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
as  articles  of  perfumery,  to  remove  the  disagreeable  foetor  of  the 
skin,  and  sometimes  for  the  celebration  of  their  religious  and 
funeral  rites,  or  with  the  object  of  adapting  them  to  medical 
purposes.  It  is  probable  that  under  the  authority  of  these  sacer- 
dotal customs,  the  Bdellium  (Heudolatia  Africana,  Rich.),  Copal, 
and  the  produce  of  other  gummiferous  trees,  have  attained  a 
greater  degree  of  importance  among  some  nations  than  others, 
on  account  of  their  more  exclusive  appropriation  to  such  ceremo- 
nies, and  from  the  agreeable  odor  diffused  by  their  combustion. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Cyperus.  odoratus,  Lin.  (?) ;  Ricinus 
Africanus,  Willd. ;  Bassia  Parlcia,  R.  Br. ;  Arachis  hypogsea, 
Willd.;  Tueulla,  a  species  of  Redwood;  Sesasum  orientale, 
Willd. ;  Pentedesma  Butyraeea,  Don. ;  Oarapa  Touloucouna, 
Rich. ;  Citrus  Limetta  and  Aurantium,  Risso  ;  Daniellia  Thuri- 
fera,  Btt. ;  Mais  Guineensis,  Willd. ;  and  i?.  melanococca,  Goert., 
and  other  sweet-scented  roots  and  plants,  are  more  generally  de- 
voted to  personal  appliances,  and  are  proportionately  esteemed, 
for  their  prophylactic  efficacy  in  some  cutaneous  maladies. 
The  Frankincense  tree  grows  to  a  large  size,  and  may  be  dis- 
tinguished without  difficulty,  by  the  erect  and  stately  trunk  and 
beautiful  foliage.  When  of  advanced  age,  its  recognition  is  ren- 
dered still  more  certain  by  the  peculiar  grey  or  ash-like  color  of 
the  bark,  and  massive  divergent  branches,  which  expand  into  a 
mass  of  foliage  at  an  altitude  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet  from  the 
ground,  to  a  considerable  distance  around. 
The  mountainous  districts  to  the  westward  of  Freetown,  and 
