Gummi-resina Myrrha; Myrrh; F. Myrrhe; G. Myrrhe.
Botanical Origin—Ehrenberg who visited Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and Arabia in the years 1820-26, brought home with him specimens of the myrrh trees found at Ghizan (Gison or Dhizân), a town on the strip of coast-region called Tihâma, opposite the islands of Farsan Kebir and Farsan Seghir, and a little to the north of Lohaia, on the eastern side of the Red Sea, in latitude 16° 40′, and also on the neighbouring mountains of Djara (or Shahra) and Kara. Here the myrrh trees form the underwood of the forests of Acacia, Moringa, and Euphorbia. Nees von Esenbeck who examined these specimens, drew up from them a description of what he called Balsamodendron Myrrha, which he figured in 1828.[548]
After Ehrenberg’s herbarium had been incorporated in the Royal Herbarium of Berlin, Berg examined these specimens, and came to the conclusion that they consist of two species, namely that described and figured by Nees, and a second to which was attached (correctly we must hope) two memoranda bearing the following words:—“Ipsa Myrrhæ arbor ad Gison,—Martio,” and “Ex huic simillima arbore ad Gison ipse Myrrham effluentem legi.[549] Hæc specimina lecta sunt in montibus Djara et Kara Februario.” This plant Berg named B. Ehrenbergianum.[550] Oliver in his Flora of Tropical Africa (1868)[551] is disposed to consider Berg’s plant the same as B. Opobalsamun Kth., a tree or shrub yielding myrrh, found by Schweinfurth on the Bisharrin mountains in Abyssinia, not far from the coast between Suakin and Edineb. But Schweinfurth himself does not admit the identity of the two plants.[552] It is certain, however, that the myrrh of commerce is chiefly of African origin.
Captain F. M. Hunter, Assistant Resident of Aden, informed us[553] that the Arabian myrrh tree, the Didthin, is found not only in the southern provinces of Arabia, Yemen, and Hadramant, probably also in the southern part of Oman, but likewise on the range of hills which, on the African shore, runs parallel to the Somali coast. The Somalis who gather the myrrh in Arabia allege that the Arabian “Didthin” is identical with that of their own district. Its exudation is the true myrrh, “Mulmul” of the Somalis, the “Mur” of the Arabs, or “Heerabole”[554] of the Indians.
Another myrrh tree, according to Captain Hunter, is growing in Ogadain and the districts round Harrar, that is between the 7th and 10th parallels, N. lat., and 43° to 50° E. long. This is the “Habaghadi” of the Somalis, which is not found in Arabia, nor in the coast range of the Somali country, but only at a considerable distance from the sea-shore. Its exudation is the coarse myrrh, habaghadi of the Somalis and Arabs and “Baisabole” of the Indians.
Hildebrandt has collected the didthin, or didin as he writes, in the coast range alluded to, that is in the Ahl or Serrut Mountains, where the tree is growing on sunny slopes in elevations of 500 to 1,500 metres. He has ascertained that it is identical with Ehrenberg’s tree, Balsamodendron Myrrha Nees. It is a low tree of crippled appearance, attaining not more than 3 metres. This species must therefore be pointed out as the source of true myrrh of the European commerce.
History—(See also further on, Bissabol). Myrrh has been used from the earliest times together with olibanum as a constituent of incense,[555] perfumes, and unguents. It was an ingredient of the holy oil used in the Jewish ceremonial as laid down by Moses: and it was also one of the numerous components of the celebrated Kyphi of the Egyptians, a preparation used in fumigations, medicine, and the process of embalming, and of which there were several varieties.
In the previous article we have pointed out ([p. 137]) several early references to myrrh in connection with olibanum, in which it is observable that the myrrh (when weights are mentioned) is always in the smaller quantity. Of the use of the drug in mediæval Europe there are few notices, but they tend to show that the commodity was rare and precious. This myrrh is recommended in the Anglo-Saxon Leech-books[556] to be used with frankincense in the superstitious medical practice of the 11th century. In a manuscript of the Monastery of Rheinau, near Schaffhausen, Switzerland, we also find that, apparently in the 11th century, myrrh as well as olibanum were used in ordeals in the “judicium aquæ bullientis.”[557] The drug was also used by the Welsh “Physicians of Myddfai” in the 13th century. In the Wardrobe accounts of Edward I. there is an entry under date 6th January, 1299, for gold, frankincense, and myrrh, offered by the king in his chapel on that day, it being the Feast of Epiphany.[558] Myrrh again figures in the accounts of Geoffroi de Fleuri,[559] master of the wardrobe (argentier) to Philippe le Long, king of France, where record is made of the purchase of—“4 onces d’estorat calmite” (see Styrax) “et mierre (myrrh) ... encenz et laudanon,” (Ladanum, the resin of Cistus creticus L.)—for the funeral of John, posthumous son of Louis X., a.d. 1316.
Gold, silver, silk, precious stones, pearls, camphor, musk, myrrh, and spices are enumerated[560] as the presents which the Khan of Cathay sent to Pope Benedict XII. at Avignon about the year 1342. The myrrh destined for this circuitous route to Europe[561] was doubtless that of the Arabian traders, with whom the Chinese had constant intercourse during the middle ages. Myrrh in fact is still somewhat largely consumed in China.[562]
The name Myrrh is from the Hebrew and Arabic Mur, meaning bitter, whence also the Greek σμύρνα. The ancient Egyptian Bola or Bal, and the Sanskrit Vola are preserved in the Persian and Indian words Bol, Bola, and Heerabol, well-known names for myrrh.