238 FROM THE HELLESPONT 
CHAP, chiefly silk and mastic. From the abundance 
VII. •^ 
of the latter article, the Turks call Chios by the 
name of Sackees, which signifies mastic\ The 
sale of a single ounce of this substance, before 
the Grand Signiors tributary portion of it has 
been collected, is punished with death. This 
portion is annually received by the Cadij in great 
pomp, attended by music and by other demon- 
strations of joy. 
The inhabitants of Chios amount to about 
sixty thousand ; of this number twenty thousand 
reside in the town of Scio"^. It contains forty- 
Ac tepidae invitant aurae, solesque benigni : 
Necnon et placidi mores, et arnica virftni vis, 
Docta aiiimos capere officiis ; O, si mihi vitffi, 
Ducere, quod superest, alta hie sub pace liceret ! " 
Nauticortim, lib. iv. p. 103. 
(1) For every information concemiD^ the Mastic-tree, and the use 
made of its gum, see Tournefort, torn. II. p. 66. in Turltey, the 
ladies of the country amuse themselves by chewing mastic ; ascribing 
to it, at the same time,- many virtues. The Turks, however, accord- 
ing to Egmont and Heyman, only get the refuse of the mastic ; the 
best being sold to foreigners. 
(2) " To the south of the town of Scio, which stands on the eastern 
side of the island, nearly in the centre, is a beautiful plain, of five 
miles in extent, by the sea side ; it is filled with lemon, orange, fig, 
pomegranate, almond, and olive trees. A species of Lentiscus, from 
which the mastic gum is procured, grows in great abundance there. 
No other mastic but that of Scio is mentioned by travellers in the 
Levant; but in Galen we find a reference to Egyptian mastic, /^aerrlxi 
Aiyvrria, lib. ii. c. 6. ad Clauconem, 
" The 
