At this time I suppose it got its name of Balsamum Judaicum, or, Balm of Gilead, and thence became an article in merchandise and fiscal revenue, which probably occasioned the discouragement of bringing it any more from Arabia, whence it very probably was prohibited as contraband. We shall suppose thirty acres planted with this tree would have produced more than all the trees in Arabia do at this day. Nor does the plantation of Beder Hunein amount to much more than that quantity, for we are still to observe, that even when it had been as it were naturalised in Judea, and acquired a name in the country, still it bore evident marks of its being a stranger there; and its being confined to two royal gardens alone, shews it was maintained there by force and culture, and was by no means a native of the country. And this is confirmed by Strabo, who speaks of it being in the king’s palace or garden at Jericho. This place being one of the warmest in Judea, shews likewise their apprehensions about it, so that in Judea, we may imagine it was pretty much in the state of our myrtles in England, which, though cultivated in green-houses in all the rest of the island, yet grow beautifully and luxuriantly in Devonshire and Cornwall, the western parts of it. Diodorus Siculus says, it grew in a valley in Arabia Felix; he should have said on a number of gentle, sloping hills in Arabia Deserta, which have a very small degree of elevation above the plain, but by no means resemble a valley. This place was the scene of three bloody battles between Mahomet and his kinsmen the Beni Koreish, who refused to be converts to his religion, or acknowledge his divine legation. These are at large described by several of the historians of that nation, with circumstances and anecdotes, as well interesting and entertaining, as elegantly told. They shew plainly that Mahomet’s tribe, the Beni Koreish, did not receive their fanatical manners and disposition from Mahomet and his religion, but were just as obstinate, ignorant, and sanguinary when they were Pagans, as they were afterwards when converted and became Mahometans. The last of these battles, which was decisive in Mahomet’s favour, gave him the sovereignty of Mecca, and was attended with the extirpation of some of the principal families in this tribe.