Myrrh -- The Module

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by Caroline Stone

Myrrh is a fragrant, bitter-tasting gum resin exuded from any of several shrubs of Arabia and eastern Africa. It is used in making incense and perfume. It can also refer to any of these shrubs.

Commenting on myrrh in Dhofar, listed among the items presented by the people of that country to the Chinese envoys, Mills says:

“Myrrh (mo yao, Giles, nos. 8016; 12,958) is a fragrant gum-resin obtained from a genus of shrubs and trees known as Commiphora (Wheatley, ‘Commodities’, p. 73).”

- J. V. G. Mills, trans., ed., Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores [1433], Hakluyt Society Extra Series 42 (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 1970), "The Country of Tsu-fa-erh", p. 153, n. 2