NECHOTH (Til•:]). This word occurs twice in the book of Genesis, and no doubt indicates a product of Syria, for in one case we find it carried into Egypt as an article of commerce, and in another sent as a present into the same country. It occurs in the sante passages as ladanum, which is translated myrrh in the A. V. Many of the same general observations will therefore apply to both [LOTH]. Nechoth has unfortunately been rendered spice'''. This it is not likely to have meant, at least in the present sense of the term, for such commodities were not likely to be transported into Egypt from Gilead, though many eastern products were, no doubt, carried north by caravans into Asia Minor, up the Euphrates, and by Palmyra into Syria. In the present case, however, all the articles mentioned seem to be products indigenous in Syria. But it is necessary to attend strictly to the original names, for we are apt to be misled by the English translation. Thus, in Gen, xxxvii. 25, we read, ' Behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spicery (nechoth), and balm (tzerz), and myrrh (loth), going to carry it down to Egypt.' To these men Joseph was sold by his brethren, when they were feeding their flocks at Dothan, supposed to be a few miles to the north of Sebaste, or Samaria. It is curious that Jacob, when desiring a present to be taken to the ruler of Egypt, enumerates nearly the same ar ticles (Gen. xliii. 11), ' Carry down the man a present, a little balm (tzerz), and a little honey (debark), spices (nechoth) and myrrh (loth);" Sumite de laudatissimis hujus terrx fructibus in vasis ves tris,' as Bochart explains it. (See the several words.) Bochart (Hierozoicon, ii. lib. iv. c. 12) enters into a learned exposition of the meaning of necoth, of which Dr. Harris has given an abridged view in his article on spices. Bochart shows that the true import of nechoth has always been considered uncertain, for it is rendered wax by the paraphrast Jonathan, in the Arabic version of Erpenius, and in Beresith Rabba (sec. 91, near the end). Others interpret it very differently. The Septuagint ren ders it 04claAa, perfume, Aquila storax, the Syrian version resin, the Samaratin balsam, one Arabic ver sion khurnoob or carob, another sumugha (or gum), Kimchi a desirable thing, Rabbi Selomo a collection of several aromatics. Bochart himself considers
it to mean storax, and gives six reasons in support of his opinion, but none of them appears of much weight. Storax, no doubt, was a natural product of Syria, and an indigenous product seems to be implied ; and Jerome (Gen. xliii. it) follows Aquila in rendering it styrax. Rosenmiiller, in his Bibl. Bat., p. 165, Eng. transl., adopts traga canth as the meaning of net hoth, without expressing any doubt on the subject ; stating that ' The Arabic word (.r..:1 or ipSi neka or nek'at), which is analogous to the Hebrew, denotes that gum which is obtained from the tragacanth, or, as it is commonly called, by way of contraction, traganth shrub, and which grows on Mount Lebanon, in the Isle of Candia, and also in Southern Europe.' We have not been able to find any word simi lar to nechoth, indicating the tragacanth, which, in our own MS. Materia Medica, is given under the Arabic name of kitad, sometimes pronounced kithad ; and, indeed, it may be found under the same name in Avicenna and other Arabic authors. Tragacanth is an exudation from several species of the genus Astragalus, and subdivision tragacanlha, which is produced in Crete, but chiefly in Northern Persia and in Koordistan. In the latter province, Dr. Dickson of Tripoli saw large quantities of it collected from plants, of which he preserved speci mens, and gave them to Mr. Brant, British consul at Erzeroum, by whom they were sent to Dr. Lindley. One of these, yielding the best tragacanth, proved to be A. gum/tiler of Labillardiere. It was found by him on Mount Lebanon, where he ascertained that tragacanth was collected by the shepherds. It might therefore have been conveyed by Ishmaelites from Gilead to Egypt. It has in its favour, that it is a produce of the remote parts of Syria, is described by ancient authors, as Theo phrastus, Dioscorides, etc., and has always been highly esteemed as a gum in Eastern countries : it was, therefore, very likely to be an article of com merce to Egypt in ancient times. In Richardson's Arabic Dictionary we find nakdt, translated as meaning the best part of corn (or dates) when sifted or cleaned; also nztkayet, the choicest part of anything cleaned, but sometimes also the refuse. —J. F. R.