CHAP. 38.—ENHÆMON.
In Arabia, too, the olive-tree distils a sort of tear, with
which the Indians make a medicament, known by the Greeks
as enhæmon;[1] it is said to be of wonderful efficacy in contracting and healing wounds and sores. These trees,[2] situate
on the coasts there, are covered by the sea at high water,
without the berries suffering the slightest injury, although it
is a well-known fact, that the salt collects upon the leaves.
All these trees are peculiar to Arabia, but it has some few
besides, in common with other countries, of which we shall
make mention elsewhere, the kinds growing in Arabia being
of inferior quality. The people of that country have a wonderful regard for the perfumes of foreign parts, and import
them from places at a considerable distance; so soon are men
sated with what they have of their own, and so covetous are
they of what belongs to others.
1. From the Greek e)/naimon, "styptic," or "blood-stopping." It is at
the present day called gum "de lecce" in Italy. Fée says that it is not
often procured from the olive-trees of France, though it is found very commonly on those of Naples and Calabria. It has no active powers, he says,
as a medicine.
2. Hardouin suggests that they may be the pelagiæ, mentioned again in
B. xiii. c. 51.