BALSAM-TREE, or Balsam. The word Balsamon may be derived from Baalshemen1, that is, royal Oil, or the most precious of perfumed Oils. It is a word no where to be met with in the Hebrew books of the Old Testament; but in Cant. i. 14.the Song of Solomon we find the Vineyards of En-geddi, which are believed to be gardens of the Balsam-tree. In Ezekiel we Ezek. xxvii. 17. פנגPannag.read the word Pannag, which the Vulgate has translated Balsamum; and is understood in the same sense by the Chaldee and many other Interpreters.
The Balsam-tree is a Shrub which scarce grows taller than the Granada-tree. Dapper says, it is much in the form of Agnus castus, and about as high as the Privet. It has few leaves, shoots out abundance of branches set with little rounding leaves, always green; the wood of it is gummy, and of a reddish colour. Its branches are long, slender, and have but few leaves on them; the blossoms of it are small, white, and very fragrant; the fruit of it is a kernel covered with a dry brown skin; it generally has a small almond in it, but sometimes the seed of it falling out of season, this kernel is filled with a yellow liquor like honey, bitter to the taste, and pungent to the tongue. The Balsam-tree is cultivated much after the manner of the vine. Its plant does not become large, nor is it suffered any more than the vine to grow tall. Marmol2 allows it to be three feet high, and says its branches are like the twigs of a vine, and of the same colour, and that the kernel is red.
Some Authors have affirmed, that the Balsam-tree was peculiar to Judæa. Diodorus Siculus3 and some others assure us, that it grows in no part of the world besides the neighbourhood of En-geddi and the Dead Sea; that the truly good was to be met with here only: but we know beyond a possibility of doubting, that this Shrub is peculiar to Arabia; that it comes naturally as it were all about Mecca and Medina4; that upon the plains and mountains, upon cultivated and uncultivated lands, and even upon the sands there grows an infinite number of gummy trees; that the inhabitants, to make advantage of them, take them up out of barren and uncultivated places, and transplant them into richer and more fertile soils; that they which grow in sandy places produce but very little Balm, but abundance of seed, which is sent to Europe and sold there. The Arabians inform us, that their country has never been without it: from thence the Queen of Sheba brought it into Judæa, and had it cultivated in the plains of Engeddi, and Jericho. That which grows in Egypt about Matara comes originally from Arabia. Ever since the Arabians have perceived the great advantage which may be made of the Balsam-tree, they have multiplied the species of it: Nevertheless there is a Law forbidding any to sow or multiply this tree without the permission of the Grand Signior.
The juice of Balm is drawn from the tree we have been speaking of during the months of June, July and August, by making incisions in the bark, or it naturally distills5 from it. These incisions are made with knives of glass, stone6, or ivory7; and some assert, that iron is mortal8 to this tree9. The juice of it in the beginning is white; soon after it becomes green, and then of a gold colour, and when it comes to be old it is of the colour of honey. The smell of it is agreeable, and very penetrating, the taste of it bitter, sharp and astringent. It is very light when it is fresh; if it is laid in water, it does not sink, but rises immediately and spreads over the whole surface of it, mixes with it and dissolves presently; but soon after it coagulates, and becomes as white as milk, and then it is taken out of the water. Some say that if the plant is strip’d of its leaves on the side which is exposed to the rising Sun, and an incision made in it, a very odoriferous liquor will immediately flow from it.
The Balm which is carried from Arabia to Cairo, tho’ it smells well, is not all the true gum of this Shrub, nor drippings from the bark of it; for it issues from it in very small quantity. The Balm which is sold by the Merchants is made of the wood and green branches of the tree distilled at the fire, and besides it is not pure; it is adulterated with a mixture of Egyptian Turpentine. Moreover, there is a liquor extracted from the seed, which is pass’d upon the world for true Balm, tho’ it has not so strong a scent, and is more bitter to the taste.
Besides the Balsam of Arabia or Mecca, there are several sorts brought from America; the most considerable are those of Peru, Tholu, and Capaïba. But as they were not known to the Ancients, it is needless to speak of them in this Dictionary, which is composed with a design only to clear the Text of the Bible.
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Footnotes
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בעל שמן ↩
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Marmol. l. xi. c. 12. ↩
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Diodor. Sic. l. ii. c. 48. Vide Jos. Antiq. Plin. Dioscorid. ↩
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Dapper Description de l’- Egypte p. 61. ↩
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Translators’ note. Hence it is called Opobalsamum, i.e. the Gum or Unguent coming by distillation from the Balsam-tree; for Balsamum prop- erly signifies the Balsam-tree, and Opobalsamum the Unguent distilling from it; ‘Οπὸς being Greek for any Gum, Juice, or Liquor distilling from any tree or from elsewhere. See Prideaux’ ↩
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Translators’ note. Josephus, who must be particularly well acquainted with this matter, ‘Οξὴ λίθῳ, or ὄξεσι λίθοις. From Judæa as our Author observes, it was transplanted into Egypt, and there, as travellers tell us, it still grows. Gemmatis alii per totum Balsama tectum Effudere cadis, duro quæ faucius ungue, Niliacus pingui defudet vulnere cortex. —— Claudian. in Epithol. Palladii. ↩
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Theophrast. Plin. Dioscor. ↩
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Translators’ note. This is not true unless the incision be made too deep, of which there is danger from a sharp iron knife; for this reason only no such knife was made use of in this operation. Prid. Hist. P. ii. p. 339. of the Folio Edition. ↩
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Plin. l. xii. c. 25. Tacit. l. v. Hist. c. 6. Marmol. ↩