Note 260 — Chapter XII · EGYPT.

Pliny, H. N. xii. 14, 65, reckons the cost of a camel’s load of frankincense by the land-route from the Arabian coast to Gaza at 688 denarii (= £30). “Along the whole tract fodder and water and shelter and various custom-dues have to be paid for; then the priests demand certain shares and the scribes of the kings; moreover the guards and the halberdiers and the body-guards and servants have their exactions; to which our imperial dues fall to be added.” In the case of the water-transport these intervening expenses were not incurred.