The balsam-tree, or balm of Gilead tree, as it is also very generally called, is not a native of that region, nor indeed does it appear ever to have been cultivated there. The true balsam, we have seen, was cultivated near Jericho, and at a later age in Egypt. From that country it has been traced to Arabia. Thus Gerlach, as quoted by Bergius, relates that the tree which produces the balsam of Mecca grows near Bederhunin, a village between Mecca and Medina, in a sandy rocky soil, confined to a small tract, about a mile in length. Strabo, we have found, was aware that the balsam-tree grows on the coast near Saba, in the happy land of the Sabteans. Bruce identifies this spot with that part of the African coast near the straits of Babelmandel, which now bears the name of Azab ; and he further states, that among the myrrh-trees behind Azab all along the coast to the straits of Babel mandel is the native country of the balsam-tree. It grows to above fourteen feet high, spontaneously and without culture, like the myrrh, the coffee, and frankincense tree, all equally the wood of the country, and occasionally cut down and used for fuel. It was no doubt early transplanted into Arabia, that is, into the southern part of Arabia Felix, immediately fronting Azab : the high country of Arabia was too cold for it, being all mountain ous, and water freezing there. The first plantation that succeeded seems to have been at Petra, the ancient metropolis of Arabia, now called Beder, or Beder Hunein. Bruce has, moreover, given two figures of the balsam-tree,—one of the whole tree, the other of a single branch, with the dissec tion of the fruit. These, he says, may be depended on, as being carefully drawn, after an exact exami nation, from two very fine trees brought from Beder Hunein. Salt also found it on the west coast of the Red Sea, and Mr. Brown, having examined his specimen, is sufficient evidence of its authen ticity.
The balsam-tree, having been seen by Bruce and Salt, and figured by the former as well as by Nees von Esenbeek, and introduced into India, has been described by the first and by Wight and Arnott, and is now pretty well known. It forms a middle sized tree, with spreading branches and a smooth ash-coloured bark, but which is no doubt rough in the older parts, as represented by Bruce. The ultimate branches are short, and thorn-like, with small very short abortive branchlets, bearing at their extremities the leaves and flowers. The fruit
is pointed, fleshy, with a viscid pulp ; nut 4-angled ; 1-2-celled, containing one perfect seed.
This species is now considered to be identical with the Amyris opobalsamum of Forskal, found by him in Arabia, in the neighbourhood of the caravanserai of Oude, not far from Has, where it is called aboosham, i. e., perodora ; and the wounded bark of which yields opobalsamum, or balsam of Mecca. It is as highly esteemed by all Orientals in the present day as it was by the civilized nations of antiquity. Another species, discovered by Forskal, and called by him Amyris Kafal, from its Arabic "name, is now also referred to the genus Balsamodendron. It is a tree with reddish-coloured wood, and with branches rather spinous. The younger leaflets are described as being villous and acute, the old ones smooth, often obtuse ; the berry compressed, with an ele vated ridge on each side, the apex forming a black prominent point. The wood he describes as form ing an article of considerable commerce, especially to Egypt, where water-vessels are impregnated with its smoke. It is probably the twigs of this species which are taken to India, and there sold under the name of aod-i balessan ; that is, the wood of the balsam-tree, and therefore analogous to the xylo balsamum of the ancients. Carpobalsamum was probably only the fruit of one of these species. Opobalsamum, or juice of the balsam, is generally described as the finest kind, of a gieenisli colour, and found in the kernel of the fruit. Carpobalsa mum is said to have been made by the expression of the fruit when in maturity, and xylobalsamum, by the expression or decoction of the small new twigs, which are of a reddish colour. But the ancients probably employed both the fruit and the wood for macerating in oil, which would extract the odour. The greatest quantity of balsam, and the best in quality, must in all times have been duced by an incision into the bark when the juice is in its strongest circulation, in July, August, and the beginning of September. It is then received into a small earthen bottle, and every day's produce is poured into a larger, which is kept closely corked. The whole quantity collected is but small.
From these considerations we conclude that the probability is, that the balsam would be noticed in some part of the Old Testament, as we find it is, in the above passages of the Canticles, Exodus, and Kings.—J. F. R.