Frankincense                                   Myrhh                                        Tree

Land of milk and myrrh
by Mavis Airey

Somalia, on the Horn of Africa, is the ancient land of Punt, mentioned in the Bible. Legend has it that it was from this land that the Three Wise Men set out with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the infant Jesus.
          
  (Incense, Frankincense)            Resins                              Musk

Early Arab traders referred to the country as the Land of Milk and Myrrh, from the Somali custom of welcoming strangers with a drink of milk, and burning myrrh, the resin of a thorn tree, to release its perfume.

The people were nomadic animal herders, and the modern name comes from soo mal, the Somali word for milking.

There is another type of crop which can be brought under the head of agriculture, and that is gum. For centuries Puntland  (Northeast Somalia) been known as a gum-producing area. The trees which produce the scented gums, frankincense and myrrh grow mostly in the eastern part of the Protectorate, but the Acacia Verek, from which comes the gum Arabic, grows more or less all over the Protectorate. At the present time, it is only the scented gum which is produced and exported to any extent. Both production and marketing are carried out in the most primitive method, with the consequence that the producer gets the minimum of profit for his labor, but with the individualistic Somali co-operative marketing is alien to his mind, and though Puntland Government is working to devise a better method, it will be a matter of great difficulty to get the natives to adopt it. For instance, the method now in vogue in the Sudan for selling gum by auction is as yet quite out of the question in Puntland.

The gum-producing trees grow on the sterile hills near the coast in the East. In this district there also grows a tree known in Somali as " damask," a species of willow which is valuable for house- and boat-building purposes. It grows along the banks of the " tugs " or dry water-courses which in the rainy season drain the interior. It is mentioned here because it, with the gum trees and the agricultural development in the West, has brought to light points of land tenure which have compelled Puntland Government to formulate a land policy.
We also have six different frankincense Maydi, Adaad, Beeyo, Malmal Murre, Falahfalah and different Myrrh lowest prices in the world guarantee. Free samples or a free estimate, please E-Mail Us
 HOME