By the Rev. Robert Walsh. 41 



produced in the greatest abundance in their days, as at pre- 

 sent, in the island of Scio. The Sultan reserves the property 

 of the Mastic trees to himself, and twenty large villages on 

 the island were confined solely to the produce of the gum, 

 and obliged to furnish annually 286 boxes, each weighing 

 eighty okes, or two hundred pounds. The greater part of 

 this large quantity was consumed by the females of the Se- 

 raglio. The Turkish women are passionately fond of chewing 

 this gum, both to preserve their teeth, and improve their 

 breath. It was also used for another purpose : the Greeks 

 distill an ardent spirit from grape skins, called Pa**, and to 

 improve its flavour they dissolve in it a certain portion of 

 Mastic. This spirit is as pure and colourless as water, but 

 when water is added to it, it becomes of an azure milky hue, 

 and opaque in proportion to the quantity of water added, the 

 gum which was soluble in the alcohol becoming precipitated 

 in the water. Since the misfortunes of Scio, the Mastic has 

 become so scarce at Constantinople, that it was with some 

 difficulty I procured the small quantity enclosed- with the 

 seed. 



Smilax Aspera. 



Excelsa. 



The Smilax is one of the few plants so minutely described 

 by the ancients, that it cannot be mistaken. The description 

 of Tiieopiirastus is particularly accurate.* It abounds in 

 all the woods and hills on both sides of the Bosphorus ; and 

 the roots of both species are used in decoctions, like Sarsa- 

 parilla, for which they are sometimes substituted. The 



VOL. VI. 



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