3. Boswellia No. 4, Oliver, op. cit.—Bunder Murayah, Somali Country (Playfair). Grows out of the rock, but sometimes in the detritus of limestone; never found on the hills close to the sea, but further inland and on the highest ground. Yields Lubân Bedowi and L. Sheheri; was received at Kew as Mohr add, a name applied by Birdwood also to B. Bhau-Dajiana.
From the informations due to Captains Miles[523] and Hunter and to Haggenmacher[524] it would appear that the Beyo or Beyu of the Somalis (Boido, Capt. Hunter) is agreeing with this tree.
4. Boswellia neglecta, S. Le M. Moore, in Journ. of Botany, xv.(1877) 67 and tab. 185. This tree has been collected by Hildebrandt in the limestone range, Ahl or Serrut, in the northern part of the Somali Country. It occurs in elevations of 1000 to 1800 metres, and attains a height of 5 to 6 metres. Its exudation, according to Hildebrandt, is collected in but small quantity and mixed with the other kinds of olibanum. Moore gives Murlo as the vernacular name of this tree, Hildebrandt calls it Mohr add.
In addition to the foregoing, from which the olibanum of commerce is collected, it may be convenient to mention also the following:—
1. Boswellia Frereana Birdw., a well-marked and very distinct species of the Somali Country, which the natives call Yegaar. It abounds in a highly fragrant resin collected and sold as Lubân Meyeti or Lubân Mati, which we regard to be the substance originally known as Elemi (see this article).
2. B. papyrifera Richard (Plösslea floribunda Endl.), the “Makar” of Sennaar and the mountainous region ascending to 4000 feet above the level of the sea on the Abyssinian rivers Takazze and Mareb. It appears not to grow in the outer parts of north-eastern Africa. Its resin is not collected, and stated by Richard[525] to be transparent; it consists no doubt merely of resin (and essential oil?) without gum.[526]
3. B. thurifera Colebr. (B. glabra et B. serrata Roxb.), the Salai tree of India, produces a soft odoriferous resin which is used in the country as incense but is not the olibanum of commerce. The tree is particularly abundant on the trap hills of the Dekhan and Satpura range. Berg, in “Offizinelle Gewächse,” xiv. c. gives a good figure of this species.
History—The use of olibanum goes back to a period of extreme antiquity, as proved by the numerous references[527] in the writings of the Bible to incense, of which it was an essential ingredient. It is moreover well known that many centuries before Christ, the drug was one of the most important objects of the traffic which the Phœnicians[528] and Egyptians carried on with Arabia.
Professor Dümichen[529] of Strassburg has discovered at the temple of Dayr el Báhri in Upper Egypt, paintings illustrating the traffic carried on between Egypt and a distant country called Punt or Pount as early as the 17th century b.c. In these paintings there are representations not only of bags of olibanum, but also of olibanum trees planted in tubs or boxes, being conveyed by ship from Arabia to Egypt. Inscriptions on the same building, deciphered by Professor D., describe with the utmost admiration the shipments of precious woods, heaps of incense, verdant incense trees,[530] ivory, gold, stimmi (sulphide of antimony), silver, apes, besides other productions not yet identified. The country Pount was first thought to be southern Arabia, but is now considered to comprehend the Somali coast, together with a portion of the opposite Arabian coast. Punt possibly refers to “Opone,” an old name for Hafoon, a place south of Cape Gardafui.
A detailed account of frankincense is given by Theophrastus[531] (b.c. 370-285) who relates that the commodity is produced in the country of the Sabæans, one of the most active trading nations of antiquity, occupying the southern shores of Arabia. It appears from Diodorus that the Sabæans sold their frankincense to the Arabs, through whose hands it passed to the Phœnicians who disseminated the use of it in the temples throughout their possessions, as well as among the nations with whom they traded. The route of the caravans from south-eastern Arabia to Gaza in Palestine, has recently (1866) been pointed out by Professor Sprenger. Plutarch relates that when Alexander the Great captured Gaza, 500 talents of olibanum and 100 talents of myrrh were taken, and sent thence to Macedonia.