In Europe, tar is extracted from the torch-tree[1] by the agency of fire; it is employed for coating ships and for many other useful purposes.[2] The wood of the tree is chopped[3] into small billets, and then put into a furnace, which is heated by fires lighted on every side. The first steam that exudes flows in the form of water into a reservoir made for its reception: in Syria this substance is known as "cedrium;"[4] and it possesses such remarkable strength, that in Egypt the bodies of the dead, after being steeped in it, are preserved from all corruption.[5]
1.
2.
3.
4. alkitran or kitran of the Arabs; which is not improbably made from a
cedar, or perhaps the Juniperus Phœnicea, called "Cedrus" by the two
Bauhins and Tournefort. He says that it is not likely that the Egyptians
would use this red substance for the purpose of preserving the dead, charged
as it is with empyreumatic oil, and destitute of all properties peculiar to
resins.
5.