simple. As regards its manipulation, great care and attention 

 murit be devoted to it, and in this lies the whole secret of its 

 manufacture, which has never yet been successfully accomplished 

 in Europe, although very frequently attempted. The first opera- 

 tion is 10 melt some starch in cold water ; this starch is then 

 placed in a large pan with a certain quantity of sugar, and the pan 

 is placed on a fire for about two hours, two men taking it in turn 

 to stir the mixture. The sugar must be stirred without inter- 

 mission, and always in the same way, otherwise the paste Avill 

 not become uniform ; any mistake in this manipulation resulting 

 in the crystallisation of the sugar. When the paste is well formed, 

 it is poured out into little wooden moulds, these moulds being 

 first of all sprinkled with finely-powdered sugar, to prevent the 

 sweetmeat adhering to them. The contents of the moulds are 

 then poured out on to marble slabs, and, by the aid of a peculiarly 

 shaped knife, the locoum is cut into strips about three centimetres 

 wide, and these strips are again cut into small cubical pieces. It 

 has been stated above that pistachio and almonds are used in the 

 preparation of locoum, and to these must be added mastic, but 

 these articles are only introduced when the cooking of the mass 

 is completed ; they are then in certain proportions added to the 

 paste, which is well stirred. In the case of the mastic, this, 

 reduced to a very fine powder, is thrown into the pan at the very 

 last moment. It may here be observed that mastic is very largely 

 used and in many different ways in the East. There it is used by 

 women, who chew it, with the object of imparting fragrance to 

 the breath and a good colour to the teeth. The men mix it with 

 alcohol during distillation, and a cheap liqueur is obtained, which 

 is largely consumed. The best mastic comes from Chio." 



Some enquiry having been made, the following report was 

 obtained through the good offices of the Foreign Office :— 



British Consulate, 



Syra, November 4, 1893. 

 My Lord, 



With reference to the manufacture of Syra " Rabat Loukoum " 

 (Turkish Delight) mentioned in Sir Villiers Lister's Commercial 

 Despatch No. 1, of the 20th ultimo, I have the honour to submit 

 the following remarks as desired by the Director of the Royal 

 Gardens at Kew. 



The decline of this once flourishing industry is to be attributed 

 on the one hand to the depreciation of the forced currency, which 

 has steadily increased for the last three or four years, attaining tho 

 present ruinous proportion, and on the other to the heavy Custom 

 dues levied on nearly every article of import. 



As a mutter of fact, the price of sugar, the chief ingredient in 

 the manufacture ot this sweetmeat, is now unprecedentedly high, 

 the Custom duty on the same being 1-10 drachmas per oke 

 (2-8 lbs.), which exceeds the value of the article itself. 



The price of starch and the flavouring essences have also 

 increased considerably 4n proportion, the Custom dues on the 

 same being at present 20 leptas and 5 drachmas per oke respec- 



