Sandalwood

12. SANDALWOOD

Tan-hiang comes from Takang and Tiwu, as well as Palembang, Sumatra.

The tree, even its leaves, resembles the Chinese lichee.

The natives fell the tree and dry it in the shade. Its aroma is pure and strong and apt to evaporate; in burning

a red-brown variety called

surpasses all other incenses. (^ it.

The Ta-kang {^J countries of also found in San-fo-ts’i, it is

variety of yellow colour

td-fan .(^ ;g); a The aroma of these light huang-fan and 25 brittle varieties is about the same. The best quality and the full is that derived from old trees, proportion of fragrance is contained in contains only seven or eight tenths of fragrance. when it. the bark is thin The second quality The poorest quality is 30 called ^ tien-sing-Mang {§^^ ^). Pieces of sandal-wood which have dropped down like rain are called p’o-lou-Uang ‘^ ^), or «scented (wood) (^ broken off and dropped down.» The root of the tree 1^) or ((incense head.» is called Uang-fm

13. CLOVES

Ting-hiang or nail-incense comes from Arabia and Java. These resemble the shape of the Chinese character ting, a nail.

It can remove bad smells from the mouth. High officials at court put it in their mouths when they have to say things to the Emperor.

The large ones are called ting-hiang-mu. This is the same as ki-sho-hiang, though some say that ki-sho-hiang is the stone of the Persian date.