JOSEPH'S THREE MASTERS

As a rule the only merchandise with which the Ishmaelites
loaded their camels was pitch and the skins of beasts. By
a providential dispensation they carried bags of perfumery
this time, instead of their usual ill-smelling freight, that
sweet fragrance might be wafted to Joseph on his journey
to Egypt.[56] These aromatic substances were well suited to
Joseph, whose body emitted a pleasant smell, so agreeable
and pervasive that the road along which he travelled was
redolent thereof, and on his arrival in Egypt the perfume
from his body spread over the whole land, and the royal
princesses, following the sweet scent to trace its source,
reached the place in which Joseph was.[57] Even after his
death the same fragrance was spread abroad by his bones,