MAID, e., similar to the aromatic bdelhum (Num. xi. 7). In the Syriac version it is 1../.e.LO; &zilch°, evidently for Mukha, the two letters r and d being so similar as to be easily confounded with one another in transcribing. We find the same translation in the Samaritan and Chaldee, while the precious stones given by the Sept. and others bear with them a different name, 61Nt or ;191pt.
The Jewish Rabbins, however, followed by a host of their Arabian translators, and to whom Bochart (Hieroz. iii. p. 593, sq.), and Gesenius (Thesaur i. 181), accede, translate bee/clack by pearl, and consider Hamiak (-141n) as the part of Arabia near Catipha and Bahrein on the Persian Gulf, where the pearls are found.
Those who regard bedolach as some kind of precious stone, rest their argument on the fact that it is placed (Gen. ii. 12), by the side of anal skoham, which is a precious stone, and occurs several times in the Scriptures, and that they are both mentioned as belonging to the produc tions of the land Havilah. But, if this meaning were intended, the reading ought to be nrro th rn nri, and not, as it actually stands, ISN1 cr); expressly excluding bedo lach from the mineral kingdom.
Those who translate bedolach by ' pearl' refer to the later Jewish and Arabian expounders of the Bible, whose authority, if not strengthened by valid arguments, is but of little weight. It is, moreover, more than probable that the pearl was as yet unknown in the time of Moses, or he would certainly not have omitted it from the costly contributions to the tabernacle, the priestly dresses, or even the Urim and Thummim, while its fellow shoham, though of lest value, was va riously used among the sacred ornaments (Exod. xxv. 7; xxxv. 9, 27 ; xxviii. 20; XXXiX. 13). Nor do we find any mention of pearl in the times of David and Solomon. In the opinion of some, the pearl occurs under its true Arabic name, in Esth.
i. 6, ni (dar), [but this is doubtful, see DAR]; in the New Testament it is very frequently mentioned under the Greek name ganapinis.
It is, therefore, most probable that the Hebrew bedolach is the aromatic gum bdellium, which issues from a tree growing in Arabia, Media, and the Indies. Dioscorides (i. So) informs us that it was called act8aNKop or #oXxov, and Pliny (xii. 19) that it bore the names of brociion, malacham, and mal dacon. The frequent interchange of the ix rj and the p brings the form very near to that of the Hebrew word ; nor is the similarity of name in the Hebrew and Greek, in the case of natural produc tions, less conclusive as to the nature of the article, since the Greeks probably retained the ancient Oriental names of productions coming from the East. Pliny's description of the tree from which
the bdellium is taken makes Kmmpfer's assertion (Aman. Exot. p. 668) highly probable, that it is the sort of palm-tree (borassus jlabelliformis, Linn. ci. 6. 3, Trigynia) so frequently met with on the Persian coast and in Arabia Felix. The term bdellium, however, is applied to two gummy resinous substances. One of them is the Indian bdellium, or false myrrh (perhaps the bdellium of the Scriptures), which is obtained from Amp* (balsamodendron ?) Commiphora. Dr. Roxburgh (Flor. Ind. ii. 245) says that the trunk of the tree is covered with a light-coloured pellicle, as in the common birch, which peels off from time to time, exposing to view a smooth green coat, which in succession supplies other similar exfoliations. This tree diffuses a grateful fragrance, like that of the finest myrrh, to a considerable distance around. Dr. Royle (Must. p. 176) was informed that this species yielded bdellium ; and in confirmation of this statement, we may add that many or the spe cimens of this bdellium in the British Museum have a yellow pellicle adhering to them, precisely like that of the common birch, and that some of the pieces are perforated by spiny branches—another character serving to recognise the origin of the bdellium. Indian bdellium has considerable resem blance to myrrh. Many of the pieces have hairs adhering to them.
The other kind of bdcllium is called African bdellium, and is obtained from Heudolotia African (Richard and Guillemin, Fl. de Sinigambie). It is a natural production of Senegal, and is called by the natives, who make toothpicks of its spines, niottout. It consists of rounded or oval tears, from one to two inches in diameter, of a dull and waxy fracture, which, in the course of time, become opaque, and are covered externally by a white or yellowish dust. It has a feeble but peculiar odour, and a bitter taste. Pellitier (Ann de. Chins. lxxx. p. 39) found it to consist of resin 59.0 ; soluble gum, 9'2 ; bassorin, 3o.6 ; volatile oil and loss, 1.2. Resin of bdellium (African bdellium ?) consists, ac cording to Johnstone, of carb. 4o, hydr. 3r, oxyg. 5.-E. M.