Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/135

 The forests extend 20 schoeni in length and 10 schoeni in breadth. (A schoenus= 40 stadia= 4 English miles.)

"Adjoining are the Minaei, a people of another community, through whose country is the sole transit for the frankincense, along a single narrow road. The Minaei were the first people who carried on any traffic in frankincense.... It is the Sabaei alone, and no other people among the Arabians, that behold the incense tree; and not all of them, for not over 3000 families have a right to that privilege by hereditary succession; for this reason these persons are called sacred, and are not allowed, while pruning the trees or gathering the harvest, to receive any pollution, either by intercourse with women or coming in contact with the dead; by these religious observances it is that the price of the commodity is so enhanced.

"The natural vintage takes place about the rising of the Dog-star, a period when the heat is most intense; on which occasion they cut the tree where the bark appears to be the fullest of juice, and extremely thin, from being distended to the greatest extent. The incision thus made is gradually extended, but nothing is removed; the consequence of which is, that an unctuous foam oozes forth, which gradually coagulates and thickens. When the nature of the locality requires it, this juice is received upon mats of palm-leaves, through in some places the space around the tree is made hard by being well rammed down for the purpose. The frankincense that is gathered after the former method is in the purest state, though that which falls upon the ground is the heaviest in weight.

"The forest is allotted in certain portions, and such is the mutual probity of the owners, that it is quite safe from all depredation; indeed, there is no one left to watch the tree after the incisions are made, and yet no one is ever known to plunder his neighbor. But, by Hercules! at Alexandria, where the incense is dressed for sale, the workshops can never be guarded with sufficient care; a seal is even placed upon the workmen's aprons and a mask put upon the head, or else a net with very close meshes, while the people are stripped naked before they are allowed to leave work. So true it is that punishments afford less security among us than is to be found by these Arabians amid their woods and forests!

"The incense which has accumulated during the summer is