occurring in Saqalibah. After falling into the river, it congeals and
moves towards the sea. It is thrown up the coast by the waves, and
the kind that falls upon the ground does not congeal.
Paulos (Aegineta), on the other hand, says it is the gum of huz-iRnnii. It flows from it and congeals. He has not described its fall upon
the ground or the river.
Some through orthographic error have read huz as jaivz, but they
have no proof, as Paulos has written that its oil is extracted from huz-iRumi during the springtime when there is an excess of oil. It is then
mixed with oil and placed in the sun or cleared after heating for three
hours. He has then described the oils of jaw 2 and lawz (walnut and almond) separately. Also, those who have translated (this work) from
Syriac into Arabic described it under the alphabetical word, ha', not ja\
Razi describes it under ha\ and, quoting Dioscorides, gives an
account of its bud, flower, leaf-extract, and the Roman variety. Then he
writes that it is said to be its gum. From Galen it is quoted that kahruba
is its gum, having the potency of its blossoms. If kahruba were a flowing
liquid, he would have said that it flows from the tree into the sea.
One of the men who had travelled to Safalah Zanj and the islands
thereof, reported that the sandarus tree is scratched and it lets out a gum
after some time which begins to flow after a few days from it and congeals. The gum that flows earlier congeals first and the one that flows
later congeals afterwards.
It is because of this that different kinds of insects are found in it.
There are two kinds of kahruba: one is that which is found in our cities;
the second is that which is very pure and rare. The distinction between
the two is that the variety which is of everyday use swells when heated,
and then contracts when taken near fire, whereas the finer variety becomes loosened on fire and becomes gummy.
The form of its pieces bears witness to its shape. When spread upon
the ground, it congeals, as samgh-i-' Arabi accumulates under the acacia
tree. Were it to congeal upon a tree, it would have spread in breadth and
contracted in length as in the golden silk cotton-tree. Sandarus is called
marimadhun in Hindiya.
MAGNET
It has the character of kahruba in that it attracts things. But it is
superior to it and possesses several advantages. It takes out the eyes of
the needles from wounds, draws the points of scissors that lie embedded
within wounds, and also used as a medicine. It is a Roman (Greek) word
and is also called arrnitiqun and abraqalita. In Syriac it is called kayfashafat farzala and in Persian ahanruba, i.e., the attractor of iron. In
