NATURAL HISTORY. 235 



the modern inhabitants have derived a few names of fishes as well as 

 birds. In some instances, the ancient words slightly altered have 

 been retained, even by the Turks ; the ;c£(^aXof is still called Cephal- 

 balluk* by them, and Scorpit-balluk is the name which they give to 

 the Scorpsena Porcus. 



PLANTS OF GREECE. 



MEDICINAL AND ECONOMICAL USES. 



IfSOM DR. SIBTHORP'S PAPERS.'] 



1. PiNus Maiitima. risuKoc, one of the most useful trees in Greece ; 

 it furnishes a resin (^i^TiV^), tar and pitch (tt/o-o-q:), all of considerable 

 importance for oeconomical purposes. Throughout Attica the fwine 

 is preserved from becoming acid by the means of the resin which is 

 employed in the proportion of an oke and a half, to 20 okes of 

 wine. The tar and pitch for ship building are taken from this tree, 

 and the n/n;.:, the Pin us Pinea. The resinous parts of the wood of 

 the nsuKo; are cut into small pieces and serve for candles, called 

 Acc^tx. The cones, kowoi, are sometimes put into the wine barrels. 



Notes hy the Editor. 

 1. AaSiK, a corruption of the ancient word 8aSs5, see Lucian de M. Pereg. Ligna 

 arboris picis, d'Orvilie Char. ii. -189. We find in Dr. Hunt's journal the same word 

 SaSia, applied by the inhabitants of Mount Ida to the torches of pine-wood. 



* Balluk in Turkish signifiesjfs/i. 



f A practice very general throughout Greece, but which is very prevalent at Athens, 

 may perhaps in some degree account for the connection of the fircone (surmounting the 

 Thyrsus) with the worship of Bacchus. Incisions are made in the fir-trees for the purpose 

 of obtaining the turpentine which distils copiously fi-om the wound. This juice is mixed 

 with the new wine in lai-ge quantities: the Greeks supposing that it would be impossible to 

 keep it any length of time without this mixture. The wine has in consequence a very 

 peculiar taste, but is by no means unpleasant after a little use. This, as we learn from 

 Plutarch, was an ancient custom (Sympos. Quest. 3. and 4. p. 528. Ed. Wyttcn.); the 

 Athenians, therefore, might naturally have placed the fircone in the hands of Bacclius. — 

 (From Lord Aberdeen's Journals.) 



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