Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/90

 p. 196) would identify it with Bulhar, about 30 miles farther west; but the description of the "sheltering spit running out from the east" in §8, places it beyond doubt at Berbera, which has just such a spit, while Bulhar is on the open beach.

Burton (op. cit., pp.407–418) gives a detailed description of the town and harbor, of the stream of sweet water flowing into it, and of the interior trade and the great periodical fair, frequented by the caravans from the interior and by sailing vessels from Yemen, the South Arabian coast, Muscat, Bahrein and Bassora, and beyond as far as Bombay; the same trade as that described in §14.

8. "Far-side" frankincense.—Concerning frankincense in general, see under §§29–32. Somali frankincense figures in the trade of Egypt at the time of the Punt expeditions, and probably much earlier. It was different from, and often superior to, the Arabian. It is, indeed, possible that the true frankincense (Boswellia neglecta) was native here, and that the Arabian varieties (Boswellia serrata, etc.) were a later cultivation. Yet Fabricius (p.124) in curious disregard of the text, thinks the Malao frankincense was imported from Arabia!

8. Duaca is identified by Glaser (Skizze, 197) with duakh, which appears in several Arabic inscriptions as a variety of frankincense; duka, he says, is a trade-name in modern Aden for a certain quality of frankincense.

Burton (op. cit., p.416) describes the range of mountains running parallel with this coast, some 30 miles inland from Berbera, "4000 to 6000 feet, thickly covered with gum-arabic and frankincense trees, the wild fig and the Somali pine."

8. Indian copal.—The text is kankamon, which is mentioned by Pliny as a dye (probably in confusion with lac); by Dioscorides as the exudation of a wood like myrrh, and used for incense. Pliny (XII, 44) says that it came "from the country that produces cinnamon, through the Nabataean Troglodytae, a colony of the Nabataei." Glaser (Skizze, 196) is positive that it is no Arabian product. Col. Henry Yule identifies it with Indian copal, Malabar tallow, or white dammar, the gum exuded from Vateria Indica, Linn., order Dipterocarpeae; which is described by Watt (op. cit., p.1105,) as a "large evergreen of the forests at the foot of the Western Ghāts from Kanara to Travancore, ascending to 4000 feet." This gum or resin dissolves in turpentine or drying oils, and, like copal, is chiefly used for making varnishes. The bark is also very astringent, rich in tannin, and is used to control fermentation.

8. Macir is mentioned by Dioscorides as an aromatic bark. Pliny (XII, 16) says that it was brought from India, bring a red bark