Am.  jour.  Pharm.  \        A  Letter  from  the  Orient. 
January,   1917.    }  J 
5 
roughly  prepared  to  catch  the  drip.  Then  the  branches  are  lavishly 
scarified  with  superficial  incisions.  The  resinous  juice  immediately 
begins  to  exude  and  drips  to  the  earth,  where,  of  different  qualities 
as  concerns  cleanliness,  it  gradually  hardens.  It  is  thus  a  conglom- 
erate of  isolated  tears,  agglutinated  fragments,  and  masses  of  un- 
even consistence,  the  quality  being  in  accordance  with  the  foreign 
matter  present,  such  as  fragments  of  bark,  leaves,  sand  and  dirt. 
Since  a  single  large  shrub  is  capable  of  producing  ten  to  twelve 
pounds,  and  the  resinous  tears  drop  in  profusion  beneath  the  shrubs, 
the  glitter  of  the  crystal  masses  on  the  limbs,  in  the  sunshine,  is  very 
pleasing. 
When  the  fallen  tears  are  dry,  or  hard  enough  to  be  handled, 
the  mastic  is  picked  up  by  means  of  tongs  or  pinchers,  put  into 
baskets,  and  sold  to  local  dealers.  It  is  then  called  kilista.4  The 
merchant  employs  girls  and  women  to  separate  the  grades,  in  which 
the  large,  single,  transparent  tears  are  "  first."  This  quality,  is 
largely  used  by  the  rich  Turkish  ladies,  who  chew  it  as  a  breath  per- 
fume. The  irregular,  semi-opaque  masses  constitute  the  second 
quality,  whilst  the  mixture  of  small  fragments  of  all  consistencies 
makes  a  third,  very  low  grade. 
Opalescence  or  dulness  of  mastic  globules  or  tears  may  be  due  to 
dust  on  the  surface,  adhering  impurities,  scratched  or  abraded  sur- 
face. In  order  to  brighten  it,  the  hard,  dry  fragments  are  placed 
in  tanks  of  cold  water,  and  hand  washed,  sometimes  with  a  prelim- 
inary scrubbing  with  soap-suds.  The  friction  between  the  frag- 
ments removes  the  dust,  and  brightens  the  surface  to  a  glass-like 
transparency.  This  manipulation  is  most  successful  in  cool,  dry 
weather,  October  and  throughout  the  winter  being  the  season  se- 
lected. 
Steamers  touching  at  Chios  are  boarded  by  men  with  baskets  of 
peculiarly  shaped  little  earthen  vases  filled  with  fine  chewing  mastic, 
which  they  sell  for  2^  piastres  each.  These  have  been  celebrated 
from  "time  immemorial,"  and  are  today  in  form  and  size  as  they 
were  in  times  gone  by. 
Mastic  is  gathered  from  June  to  September,  the  process  being 
disturbed  if  there  be  excessive  rains.  No  adulterations  of  mastic 
are  consummated  in  Turkey,  but,  since  the  drug  is  offered  elsewhere 
cheaper  than  it  is  supplied  in  Smyrna,  where  the  product  of  Chios 
naturally  gravitates,  it  may  be  inferred  that  manipulative  processes 
are  elsewhere  possible. 
4  This  word  is  spelled  for  me  by  Mr.  Alpiar  of  Smyrna. 
