The tree grows to the height of five cubits, and has thorns upon it: the trunk is hard and spiral, and thicker than that of the incense-tree, and much more so at the root than at the upper part of the tree. Some authors have said that the bark is smooth like that of the arbute, others, that it is rough and covered with thorns: it has the leaf of the olive, but more wavy, with sharp points at the edges: Juba says, however, that it resembles the leaf of the olusatrum. Some again say that it resembles the juniper,[530] only that it is rougher and bristling with thorns, and that the leaves are of a rounder shape, though they have exactly the taste of the juniper. There have been some writers who have incorrectly asserted that both myrrh and frankincense are the product of the same tree. CHAP. 35.—THE NATURE AND VARIOUS KINDS OF MYRRH. Incisions are made in the myrrh-tree also twice a year, and at the same season as in the incense-tree; but in the case of the myrrh-tree they are all made the way up from the root as far as the branches which are able to bear it. The tree spontaneously exudes, before the incision is made, a liquid which bears the name of stacte,[531] and to which there is no myrrh that is superior. Second only in quality to this is the cultivated myrrh: of the wild or forest kind, the best is that which is gathered in summer. They give no tithes of myrrh to the god, because it is the produce of other countries as well; but the growers pay the fourth part of it to the king of the Gebanitæ. Myrrh is bought up indiscriminately by the common people, and then packed into bags; but our perfumers separate it without any difficulty, the principal tests of its goodness being its unctuousness and its aromatic smell. (16.) There are several[532] kinds of myrrh; the first among the wild myrrhs is the Troglodytic; and the next are the Minæan, which includes the Atramitic, and that of Ausaritis, in the kingdom of the Gebanitæ. A third kind is the Dianitic,[533] and a fourth is the mixed myrrh, or “all-sorts;”[534] a fifth, again, is the Sambracenian, which is brought from a city in the kingdom of the Sabæi, near the sea; and a sixth is known by the name of Dusaritic. There is a white myrrh also, which is produced in only one spot, and is carried for sale to the city of Messalum. The Troglodytic myrrh is tested by its unctuousness, and its peculiarly dry appearance: it has also a dirty, rough look with it, but is more acrid than the other kinds. The Sambracenian myrrh has none of these faults, and is more sightly in appearance than any of them, though it is far from being so powerful. In general, however, the proof of its goodness consists in its being separated in little pieces of uneven shape, formed by the concretion of a whitish juice, which dries up little by little. When broken it ought to exhibit white marks like the finger-nails, and to be slightly bitter to the taste. That