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

31 8 TRAVELS IN ASIATIC TURKEY,
stuffs, plain and striped cottons and dimities, and various articles of
embroidery. The cotton stockings and night-caps manufactured
there are held in very general estimation.
Large quantities of olive oil, of the purest and most delicious
quality, are annually exported to Venice, which is also the mart
for the turpentine collected in the island, The export of wine, of
the growth of Scio, to Constantinople and other parts of Turkey ',
is but inconsiderable, the Greek inhabitants, who are passionately
fond of it, consuming by far the greater proportion of the produce
of the vintage.
We procured a quantity of good red wine of the
preceding vintage at ten and twelve paras the oke ; but the old
wine is still dearer.
Adjacent to the town of Scio there are a considerable number of
extensive enclosed gardens,
filled with every description of the
fruits the island produces, and with aromatic plants and shrubs, the
fragrant odours exhaled from which impregnate the air to the dis-
tance of several miles at sea, when the wind blows off the land.
We were very sensible of this when approaching the island.
The port of Sew is very unsafe when the wind blows from the
east and east-south-east: it is likewise open to the north winds,
which are, however, less dangerous than the Levanters, or easterly
winds. It is, however, a convenient harbour for caicks and light
vessels of
every description. The passage
to Smyrna, by the route
of Chisme, opposite to Scio, is very short, being within the compass
of a day's journey by land.
Passengers cross over from Scio
to Chisme in caicks, which are
constantly employed for that pur-
pose, as well as for the conveyance of merchandize. The journey
from Chisme is made by land on mules, and it requires about
twelve hours to reach Smyrna, by a very rocky and mountainous
road. The whole of the expense to a person who undertakes this
route from Scio to Smyrna does not exceed five piastres, or seven
shillings and sixpence English. We felt great regret at being prevented
by circumstances from visiting the latter city.
The population of the town of Scio is estimated at about twentyfive
thousand souls, that is, nearly, if not entirelv, the half of the
complete population of the island. Of this population about
twentv-two thousand individuals are Greeks, with two thousand
Turks, and about a thousand Catholics and Jews. The other parts
of the island are exclusively inhabited by Greeks.
Having expressed a desire to view the churches in Scio belonging
to the latter nation, the English consul conducted us to three of