322 
ON  SOME  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  TEREBINTH. 
in  the  spring,  and  from  which  the  resin  continues  to  flow  during 
the  whole  summer.  It  is  in  the  morning,  says  he,  after  the 
coolness  of  the  night  has  somewhat  solidified  it,  that  the  resin 
is  scraped  from  the  stem  and  from  the  flat  stones  placed  at  the 
foot  of  the  tree  to  receive  that  which  may  have  run  down.  As 
the  resin  thus  collected  is  always  mixed  with  some  foreign  mat- 
ters, it  is  purified  by  straining  through  small  baskets,  after 
having  been  liquified  by  exposure  to  the  heat  of  the  sun.  As 
the  produce  is  very  scanty,  a  tree  of  four  to  five  feet  circum- 
ference yielding  ordinarily  not  more  than  ten  or  eleven  ounces 
per  annum,  Scio  turpentine  is  dear  even  in  the  island  where  it  is 
collected.  Dr.  Barbieri  of  Scio  informs  me  that  at  present  the 
trade  is  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  Jews,  who  dispose  of 
the  resin  in  the  interior  of  the  Turkish  empire.  During  the  last 
two  or  three  years,  some  small  parcels  have  been  procured,  on 
account  of  orders  received  from  Europe,  but  it  was  not  known 
in  Scio  for  what  purpose  the  resin  was  required. 
Dr.  Barbieri  has  further  stated  that  Scio  turpentine,  besides 
being  used  externally  and  internally  in  medicine,  is  said  to  be 
mixed  in  many  places  in  small  proportions  with  wine,  for  the 
purpose,  as  it  is  asserted,  of  preserving  it,  especially  where  it 
has  to  be  shipped.  I  am  also  assured  that  the  resin  is  consumed 
in  the  island  of  Candia  for  the  purpose  of  flavoring  rahi,  a  spirit 
containing  aniseed,  extensively  used  in  all  parts  of  the  Levant. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  in  Greece  and  other  parts  where 
wine  is  flavored  with  resin,  that  of  the  red  pine  is  used. 
Another  curious  purpose  for  which  Scio  turpentine  is  employ- 
ed, not  only  in  Scio,  but  in  other  parts  of  the  Levant,  is  in  the 
extraction  of  superfluous  hairs  from  the  face  and  eyebrows,  as 
well  as  from  the  arms  and  legs  of  the  Eastern  ladies.* 
[With  reference  to  the  foregoing,  we  have  been  favored  with 
the  following  note  from  Dr.  Arthur  Leared  : — 
"  I  have  seen  the  Terebinth  (Pistacia  terebinthus,  L.)  in  the 
*  Dr.  Barbieri  thus  describes  it : — 
"  *  *  *  qualmente  in  mano  esperta  i  fili  di  seta  colla  suddetta 
resina  serve  a  uno  uso  essenziellissimo  immancabile  della  toiletta  delle  belle 
di  Levante,  cioe  Pestirpazione  della  lanuzza  della  faccia,  e  il  regolare  or- 
dinamento  dei  supraciglie  prirao  che  quella  e  questi  siano  ahelliti  dei  colori 
che  lore  convengono." 
