Travels in Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria, and across the desert into Egypt ...

316 TRAVELS IN ASIATIC TURKEY,
sent to Constantinople for the use of the seraglio.
It
being the
property of the Grand Seignor, persons are sent to the island to
collect it; twenty-one thousand and twenty- five okes, or measures
of this gum being forwarded annually
to the above destination.
The remainder is disposed of
surreptitiously when a favourable opportunity
presents itself; but this traffic is attended by a considerable
risk. The English consul related an instance of
having him-
self purchased a quantity of the gum, which he afterwards disposed
of at Constantinople ; but a discovery having been made, he
was subjected to the very heavy fine of eight thousand piastres,
and otherwise maltreated. The gum mastic is chewed by the fe-
males in Turkey to sweeten the breath.
With respect to the tree itself, the botanical name of which is
the dendron scinos, it grows to the height of from four to six, and
even feet.
eight When viewed at a distance, it is not unlike our
common hollv; but its leaves are of a paler green, resembling,
in
some degree, those of the broad-leafed
myrtle,
but more obtuse.
The is gum collected, for the first time in the season, about the
month of July, when it is of the best
quality; and the operation,
which is repeated two or three times in the course of the
year, con-
sists in making incisions in the trunk of the tree, from which the
juice gradually exudes, and hardens into the consistence of a gum.
The lentisk-tree is not tapped until it has attained a growth of five
years: those we saw, we were informed by the inhabitants of the
village, were considerably older. The population of this village,
the houses of which are, as well as the old castle in its centre, in
a
very
ruinous condition, may be estimated at about three hundred
individuals, ail Greeks, and of a healthy and cheerful appearance.
The women and children employ themselves in spinning cotton,
which is sent to the town of Scio to be employed in a manufactory
of white cotton stockings, very durable, and in other 'respects of
an excellent quality.
Our excursion led us through a very agreeable and fertile part of
the island, called Del Campo, which is so well peopled that we
met with a continuation of dwellings from the town of Scio to the
above village of Calligmaliseah, an extent of nearly seven miles.
Within this line of territory there are a considerable number of
large, handsome, and substantial stone edifices, with terraces at the
h p, the summer residences of the wealthy Greeks and Turks.
Each of these houses is provided with a garden enclosed by high
'e walls, which produces the choicest fruits of the growth of