Slabs of citron-wood, used principally in the making of tables, seem to have been obtained exclusively from this part of the world,[[2420]] which, likewise, furnished various kinds of beautiful marbles. Fine carbuncles for seals were obtained from the neighbourhood of Carthage,[[2421]] as were the emerald and the bastard emerald from a small island called Cothon, opposite that part of the coast.
The gum ammoniac distils in a milky juice[[2422]] from an umbelliferous plant growing in the desert near the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, as well as on the confines of Cyrenè, whence it appears to have been chiefly exported.[[2423]]
In the same country grew the silphion,[[2424]] which, according to tradition, was not indigenous to the soil, but sprang up suddenly for the first time after a violent tempest.[[2425]] If we can rely on this relation we must suppose the seed to have been borne thither by the winds, probably from some part of the interior. Both the root and the juice were exported, sometimes adulterated with bean-flowers or gum sagapenum. Marmarica supplied an extremely pungent kind of capparis,[[2426]] which, also, was found on the shores of the Red Sea. The wild asparagus flourished abundantly in this country, and attained a great height.[[2427]]
From Cyrenaica came an inferior sort of saffron,[[2428]] with truffles of a very delicate flavour,[[2429]] some of which were of a reddish hue,[[2430]] the best white hellebore,[[2431]] heraclean all-heal,[[2432]] the herb alysson from Africa generally,[[2433]] with gum-ladanum,[[2434]] olive oil,[[2435]] iris roots,[[2436]] and terebinth berries.[[2437]] In the country of the Troglodytes, on the western part of the Red Sea, were groves of myrrh trees, the gum of which was of a palish green, pellucid, and of a biting taste.[[2438]]
The euphorbium,[[2439]] which received its name from Euphorbius, physician to king Juba, who discovered the virtues of its juices, is found on Mount Atlas, and in most parts of northern Africa. In procuring this substance they spread a number of sheepskins round the shrub, which they then pierced with darts or lances from a distance, in order to avoid the penetrating noxious vapours which exhaled from it at its first coming in contact with the air. The same precaution, according to a modern traveller, is still practised.
Carthage traded generally in all the productions of the ancient world, her exports consequently were numerous, and among these were magnificent tapestry and richly figured pillows.[[2440]] From the same part of Africa were exported a superior kind of snails.[[2441]] Horses, hides,[[2442]] and hams cured in a particular manner, were supplied by Cyrenè,[[2443]] together with the best unguent of roses.[[2444]] This country was likewise famous for its fragrant violets and saffron flowers.[[2445]] The horns of the oryx were exported to Phœnicia, where they were employed in constructing the sides of citharæ.[[2446]] The scink, whose flesh was used as an antidote and in aphrodisiacs, was exported from the neighbourhood of mount Atlas, where it attained the length of four feet and a half.[[2447]] The Carthaginians, who sailed down the western shore of Africa to the gold coast, used to trade with the natives without personal communication. Landing from their ships they deposited a quantity of merchandise on the ground and retired on board, where they kindled large fires, that their coming might be announced by the smoke; upon this the natives approached, and laid close by what they conceived to be the value of the articles in gold. If what they brought satisfied the Carthaginians, they took away the gold and left the merchandise; if not, they suffered the whole to remain; upon which the natives added a quantity of the precious metal, until the strangers were satisfied.[[2448]] Similar rules are observed by the Moors in trading with the negroes in various parts of this continent.
On nearly the whole coast of northern Africa flourished the lotus tree, the fruit of which constituted the principal subsistence of some of the natives, who likewise made from it a kind of wine which could not be exported, since it turned sour in three days. The nourishing quality of this fruit was experienced by the army of Ophella,[[2449]] which proceeding across the desert, to attack the Carthaginians, was reduced to subsist upon it entirely for several days. It is about the size of a white cherry and straw-coloured, excepting on the side next the sun, which has a ruddy blush: the best are said to be without stones, but those which are produced in the Saïd have very large ones. Whether it has yet been introduced into England I know not; I myself, however, made the attempt in pots placed in a warm room; but on the first frosty night of autumn the plants perished entirely, with all the silk trees I had planted at the same time. From the same part of the country was obtained the lotus plant, used in cosmetics and medicines.[[2450]]
From Egypt, which we shall here consider apart from the rest of Africa, the most valuable exports were undoubtedly wheat[[2451]] and rice,[[2452]] after which, in later ages, the wines of Lake Mareotis,[[2453]] and several cities along the Nile, deserve to be enumerated. The seeds of the bitter cabbage of Egypt[[2454]] were exported to be employed in medicine. Marjoram, too, was obtained from this country,[[2455]] together with the odoriferous rush;[[2456]] the creeping inula,[[2457]] cœrulescent wormwood,[[2458]] the arisaron,[[2459]] garlic,[[2460]] the acacalis, or berry of a certain shrub used in remedies against ophthalmia,[[2461]] myrobalans,[[2462]] amomum,[[2463]] cumin,[[2464]] gum-acacia, transparent as glass,[[2465]] and the leaves and flowers of the Eastern privet.[[2466]]
It is possible, that the sensitive plant was introduced into Greece from Egypt, since this appears to be the native country of all the acacia tribe, to which the sensitive plant belongs; and we find it to have been plentifully produced in the neighbourhood of Memphis.[[2467]] Both the seeds and flowers of the tamarisk were used in medicine,[[2468]] and of its wood were made cups, which were supposed to impart a medicinal virtue to whatever was drunk out of them.
From dill,[[2469]] which was exported from Egypt and other countries, a perfume was made, which was supposed to mitigate the acuteness of the headache. Other kinds of perfume[[2470]] were likewise manufactured in this country,[[2471]] of which that called metopion, chiefly composed of galbanum,[[2472]] and the unguent of lilies may be regarded as the principal.[[2473]]