THE SMYRNA FIG AT HOME AND ABROAD 35 



packers are substantial stone buildings, two stories high, the lower part being 

 devoted to the storing of box material, and the upper story for the packing. From 

 one hundred to as high as six hundred men, women and children are employed in 

 the largest houses. 



The opening of the fig season is the occasion for a grand festival, for it means 

 employment for the poor classes for at least two months in the year. In Smyrna 

 during the fig season alone, fully thirty thousand people are said to be engaged in 

 various capacities, which gives a fair idea of the vital importance of this industry to 

 the country. 



When the figs are brought to the packing houses, they are emptied from the 

 sacks into large heaps from three to four feet deep. Women and girls sit around 

 the piles, working the figs between their fingers. This work is called "maccaronia." 

 The grader takes up a fig, closes the hand over it, then pulls it until it is shaped like 

 a bag. This handling leaves it soft and pliable, and it is then graded into three grades, 

 according to size and quality. Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are thrown in circular baskets, 

 about twenty inches in diameter and three inches deep. When these baskets are 

 filled, they are taken to the packing rooms, which are long and narrow. Here 

 narrow benches about three feet wide run the entire length of the room, with one 

 row of packers on each side, leaving an aisle between for the convenience of the 

 boys bringing in the figs, and taking away the packed boxes. In the largest 

 packing houses, where Turks as well as Armenians and Greeks are employed, the 

 Turks all work in a room by themselves, and have a Turkish foreman over them. 

 They will not work in the same room with other nationalities. The packing is done 

 exclusively by men, the women doing the sorting and grading. 



On the bench within easy reach of each man are placed pans or small pails filled 

 with sea water, which is used to moisten the fingers to facilitate the work of pack- 

 ing and to prevent the figs from sticking to the fingers. This water is dipped from 

 the quay, close to where all the sewers empty, and is hauled up in hogsheads to the 

 packing houses; obviously a very inviting prospect to the consumer of the far famed 

 Smyrna Figs. The men packing No. 1 figs all sit together, likewise those packing Nos. 

 2 and 3. The No. 4's are not packed, but are dumped into sacks and are exported to 

 Europe to be used in making a cheap grade of coffee or for distilling purposes. 



The packer takes a fig out of the basket before him, squeezes it flat and by using 

 the thumb and forefinger of each hand he brings the stem of the fig on the upper 

 side, and the eye or ostiolum underneath; he then pulls the fig as much as possible, 

 squeezing it very thin; then again takes the fig in both hands, the stem end turned 

 down, and with the thumbs pressed close together on the opposite side with the two 

 forefingers placed firmly against the fig underneath; still pressing the thumbs down 

 he gradually draws them in opposite directions and splits the figs by this process 

 from the stem to the eye; then turning the stem towards him, he straightens the fig 

 out making the sides nearly square, when it is ready to be packed in the box. This 

 is the most difficult part of the packing, the object being to have the bottom look 

 as well as the top, should the box be opened from the bottom. After the first layer is 

 packed, the box is changed round, the next layer being packed the other way, and so 

 on until the box is filled. This mode of packing cannot be done, however, unless the 

 fig is split, thus permitting the drawing out of the fig until it is almost twice its 

 original size. The lines, between the layers are perfectly straight, no guide of any 

 kind being used. In the top layer, however, which is almost a quarter of an inch 

 above the box, a few leaves of the Bay Laurel (Laurus Nobilis) are placed. The 

 boxes, without lids, are then taken by the boys and placed in stacks, the weight of 

 the boxes after a few days pressing the figs down so the lid can be nailed without 

 difficulty. No presses or machinery of any kind are used, the work being done en- 

 tirely by hand. This style of packing is known to the trade as "Eleme," meaning 



