. . CHIN.
This name is applied in Persia and Central Asia to several forms of asphalte, mineral pitch, Jew's pitch, maltha. Near the Straits of Tang-i-Teko, from whence the Kurdistan river issues into the plain, and not far from the village of Peshker, is a fissure high up in the mountains, out of which runs a black substance resembling pitch, which is gathered by the natives, and is much esteemed in Persia for its healing qualities, especially for bruises and fractures. It is called Mumia or Mumia-i-Nai, from the village Nai-deh at its bottom. Shiraz sustained the shock of an earth quake about the year 1810, when this fissure was enlarged, and the momiai has since flowed out more copiously. The excessive esteem in which it was held by the Persians may be judged by mentioning that Ali Murad Khan sent about an ounce of momiai enclosed in a gold box to the empress of Russia. It is alluded to also in the
Ajaib-ul-Makhlukat and the Jahan Numa. Baron de Bode surmises that this is the Sarcocolla of Dioscorides, iii. p. 99, which is described a.sobtained from Persia, and to possess wonderfully healing properties. Sir William Ouseley states that the momiai of Darabjird is alone reckoned genuine. The Persian momiai is deemed a certain specific in fractured bones. It is a solid, hard, heavy, black, glistening mass, without any particular odour. In all eastern bazars may be found, under the name of Persian mumiai, a compound re sembling the genuine in appearance. According to Dr. Seligroann, Mum in Persia signifies wax ; Iai or Ayu is the name of the' village in the vicinity of which the spring of water containing inumiai or mumiajin is found.