DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5538#0308
288 PHARAOHS, FELLAHS, AND EXPLORERS.
was brought by the ancients from the so-called " land of the
Troglodytes." According to the old naturalist, the myrrh-
tree is found
"... in many quarters of Arabia; also there is very good
myrrhe brought out of the Islands ; and the Sabeans passe
the seas and travell as far as to the Troglodites countrey for
it. . . . The plant groweth ordinarily live cubits high, but
not all that length is it smooth and without prickes: the
bodie and trunke is hard and wrythen; it is greatest toward
the root, and so ariseth smaller and smaller, taper-wise.
Some say that the barke is smooth and even, like unto that
of the Arbute Tree: others againe affirme that it is prickly,
and full of thornes. It hath a leafe like to the Olive, but
more crisped and curled, and withall it is in the end sharpe-
pointed like a needle. . . . The myrrhe trees are twice cut
and launced in one year; the slit reacheth from the very
root up to the boughes, if they may beare and abide it."
Further on, he says that, of all the wild kinds of myrrh-
trees, " the first is that which groweth in the Troglodites
countrey ;" and this, " the Trogloditike myrrhe, they chuse
by the fattinesse thereof, and for that it seemeth to the eie
greener. . . . The best myrrhe is known by little peeces
which are not round; and when they grow together, they
3Teeld a certain whitish liquour which issueth and resolveth
from them, and if a man breake them into morsels, it hath
white veines resembling men's nails, and in tast is somewhat
bitter." (")
That the Ana was undoubtedly the resinous gum of the
myrrh-tree is still further confirmed by the above passage
from Pliny, which describes it as of a green color; the
"green Ana" being constantly named in Egyptian inscrip-
tions as the most precious and desirable kind.
One very interesting tableau, which is yet happily in good
preservation, represents a group of three large trees of this
species, i. <?., the Nehet Ana, or odoriferous sycamore. On
the ground, in the shade of their boughs, are piles of pan-
ther-skins and elephant-tusks, logs of ebony in stacks, and
was brought by the ancients from the so-called " land of the
Troglodytes." According to the old naturalist, the myrrh-
tree is found
"... in many quarters of Arabia; also there is very good
myrrhe brought out of the Islands ; and the Sabeans passe
the seas and travell as far as to the Troglodites countrey for
it. . . . The plant groweth ordinarily live cubits high, but
not all that length is it smooth and without prickes: the
bodie and trunke is hard and wrythen; it is greatest toward
the root, and so ariseth smaller and smaller, taper-wise.
Some say that the barke is smooth and even, like unto that
of the Arbute Tree: others againe affirme that it is prickly,
and full of thornes. It hath a leafe like to the Olive, but
more crisped and curled, and withall it is in the end sharpe-
pointed like a needle. . . . The myrrhe trees are twice cut
and launced in one year; the slit reacheth from the very
root up to the boughes, if they may beare and abide it."
Further on, he says that, of all the wild kinds of myrrh-
trees, " the first is that which groweth in the Troglodites
countrey ;" and this, " the Trogloditike myrrhe, they chuse
by the fattinesse thereof, and for that it seemeth to the eie
greener. . . . The best myrrhe is known by little peeces
which are not round; and when they grow together, they
3Teeld a certain whitish liquour which issueth and resolveth
from them, and if a man breake them into morsels, it hath
white veines resembling men's nails, and in tast is somewhat
bitter." (")
That the Ana was undoubtedly the resinous gum of the
myrrh-tree is still further confirmed by the above passage
from Pliny, which describes it as of a green color; the
"green Ana" being constantly named in Egyptian inscrip-
tions as the most precious and desirable kind.
One very interesting tableau, which is yet happily in good
preservation, represents a group of three large trees of this
species, i. <?., the Nehet Ana, or odoriferous sycamore. On
the ground, in the shade of their boughs, are piles of pan-
ther-skins and elephant-tusks, logs of ebony in stacks, and