1899.] ESSAYS. 31 



A species of insect, probably an a[)his, forms a nest in the 

 extremity of the leaves by puncturing its substance, which then 

 becomes fungous and swells into fleshy follicles of a bright 

 scarlet hue, having a strong resinous odor and clammy feel and 

 full of turpentine. They are so abundant sometimes as to give 

 the tree the appearance of bearing rich flowers or fruit. 



Another variety of this tree, the Putacia lenfiscu.'=t, yields 

 that pure, transparent gum, the Mastic, used by the natives for 

 chewing purposes, to preserve the teeth and sweeten the breath. 

 It is also used by the Greeks to improve their brandy made from 

 grapeskins. It is procured by making incisions in the bark of 

 the tree, the resin exuding in clear, tear-shaped drops. So 

 highly was the product of the island of Scio esteemed that the 

 inhabitants were compelled to pay an annual tribute of one 

 thousand pounds for use in the Sultan's seraglio. 



The olive is grown over a very wide area, especially in 

 Asiatic Turkey and the Mediterranean islands. An olive 

 orchard in the tlowerino; time is one of the most beautiful sights 

 in the world, — the gnarled and twisted trunks, hoar with age ; 

 the short, oblate, slightly curled silvery leaves ; the branches 

 fairly bending beneath the weight of the snowy petals ; and the 

 ground beneath and around white as with flakes of snow. Job 

 says, referring to this peculiarity of its shedding its blossoms, 

 " He shall cast off his flowers as the olive." Ne*it to the 

 cereals, it is by far the most important agricultural product of 

 Turkey. Its berry, pickled, forms the' chief article of food ; 

 the oil, produced from its pericarp, seasons most of the dishes, 

 and keeps alive the light that cheers the winter's gloom ; its 

 wood, close-grained and hard, 'takes on a beautiful polish and is 

 very highly prized ; while its bark and leaves, possessing cer- 

 tain febrifuge principles, are much sought after by the leeches 

 of the country. The tree is slow in reaching maturity, but after 

 the fifteenth or sixteenth year it bears on indefinitely, and seems 

 never to lose its vitality. There are trees in the garden of 

 Gethsemane estimated to be over a thousand years old, still in 

 full sap and vigor. It is of all fruit trees the hardiest, for 

 scarcely any amount of mutilation, any severity of frost, or 



