562 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



is softish, somewhat transparent, of a pale, 

 whitish, yellow colour, inclining a little to green, 

 of a strong, not unpleasant smell, resembling 

 somewhat that of fennel. It is readily soluble 

 in alcohol, and appears to be a composition of a 

 resin and essential oil. At present it is held in 

 ]5ttle estimation in medicine; but it is used some- 

 times for the composition of varnishes. 



Mastic Tree Cpistacia hntiscus). Natural 

 family terchintaceos ; dioscia, pentandria, of Lin- 

 naeus. This tree, which seldom exceeds afoot in 

 diameter, rises ten or twelve feet in height. It 

 is covered with a smooth brown bark, and towards 

 the top sends off numerous branches. The leaves 

 are regularly pinnated, and consist of several 

 pairs of narrow, ovate, opposite pinnas, closely 

 attached to the common footstalk, which is 

 winged, or supplied with a narrow, foliaceous 

 expansion. Tlie male flowers are placed in an 

 open catkin, and the female upon the common 

 peduncle, in alternate order. The flowers appear 

 in May; and the fruit, which is an oval, smooth 

 nut, ripens in August. 



This tree is a native of the south of Europe, 

 and the Levant. According to Evelyn, it was 

 introduced into Britain in 1664; but in this 

 country it is of slow vegetation, and seldom 

 healthy enough to give a complete idea of the 

 plant in its natural situation; nor does it here, 

 with the diminished solar heat, afford any gum. 



Mastic is a resinous substance collected in the 

 form of tears; it is of a very pale yellow colour, 

 having but little smell, and scarcely any taste. 

 It fonns the basis of several dyeing varnishes, is 

 one of the ingredients used in fumigations, and 

 is considered to be efficacious in promoting a 

 healthy state of the mouth : for this latter pur- 

 pose it is held in much esteem by the Turks, 

 Greeks, and all the people of the Levant, who 

 constantly chew it. Hence it takes its name; 

 mastic being derived from masticare, to masti- 

 cate. The women of Scio, Smyrna, and Con- 

 stantinople, have almost always a piece of it in 

 their mouths. 



This is the most celebrated production of the 

 island of Scio, and of so much importance is it 

 considered there, that the inhabitants of the vil- 

 lages that furnish it, had, when under their 

 Turkish masters, many peculiar privileges. They 

 acknowledged no other chief than the aga, or 

 lord who farmed that production; they were 

 exempt from contributing their labour gratui- 

 tously on public occasions, being obliged only 

 to convey the mastic to the town, and to furnish 

 beasts of burden to this aga when he travelled 

 about the villages in order to collect it. "We 

 had an opportunity," says M. Olivier, "of seeing 

 the aga on his tour, preceded by military music, 

 followed by several tchocadars, and surrounded 

 by a great number of villagers, eager to attend 

 on him. Had we not been previously informed. 



we should much rather have taken him for a 

 military commander, than a simjile farmer of 

 taxes. 



In order to obtain tlie mastic, numerous inci- 

 sions are made in the trunk and principal l)ranche3 

 of the tree, during five days in the middle of 

 July. A liquid juice gradually exudes from 

 these incisions; this thickens by exposure to the 

 air so immediately, as mostly to adhere to the 

 tree in the form of drops; but when very abun- 

 dant, it falls to the ground before it becomes a 

 concrete substance. The former kind is most 

 esteemed; it is detached from the bark with a 

 sharp iron instrument: those persons who are 

 careful in collecting it, spread cloths on the 

 ground under the trees, that the juice which 

 falls may not be injured by coming in contact 

 with the earth. The first gathering lasts during 

 eight successive days, after which fresh incisions 

 are made in the tree, and they are untouched 

 until the 25th of September. Then the second 

 gathering begins, and it is not allowed to cut 

 the trees any more that season; but the mastic, 

 which continues to run, is gathered until the 

 19th of November, on the Monday and Tuesday 

 of every week, after which time it is forbidden 

 to gather this production. 



The culture of the lentisk is simple, and 

 attended with little trouble ; it consists much 

 more in cleansing than in turning the soil. The 

 cultivators do not prune this tree, but, on the 

 contrary, endeavour to prevent the stem from 

 growing in a handsome form, as it has been found 

 from experience that the lentisks which trail, 

 yield much more mastic than those the stems of 

 which are straight and shooting. 



It may readily be imagined that all the Greeks 

 in the island would gladly have become cultiva- 

 tors of the lentisk, by which they would gain 

 exemption from the petty and harrassing tyranny 

 to which others were constantly subjected; but 

 while it was prohibited under the severest pen- 

 alties to offer the mastic for sale to any but the 

 aga who farmed it, the cultivation of the lentisk 

 was forbidden out of the limits traced by the 

 government. 



A Turk had recourse to an ingenious stratagem 

 by which he evaded the law, and hoped to obtain 

 some of the advantages acquired by the cultiva- 

 tion of mastic. He grafted the lentisk on young 

 turpentine trees, and had the satisfaction of find- 

 ing that these grafts succeeded perfectly well. 

 To his astonishment, however, a few years after- 

 wards, on making incisions on the trees, a liquid 

 flowed, which combined with the odour and 

 other qualities of the mastic the unchanging 

 fluidity of turpentine. 



The quantity of mastic imported into this 

 country, and retained for home consumption, in 

 1830, was 13,644 lbs. It is admitted under a 

 duty of Gs. per cwt.; its present price varying 



