There Is In The Town Of Nice, A Well
Regulated Hospital For Poor Orphans Of Both Sexes, Where Above
One Hundred Of Them Are Employed In Dressing, Dyeing, Spinning,
And Weaving The Silk.
In the villages of Provence, you see the
poor women in the streets spinning raw silk upon distaves:
But
here the same instrument is only used for spinning hemp and flax;
which last, however, is not of the growth of Nice - But lest I
should spin this letter to a tedious length, I will now wind up
my bottom, and bid you heartily farewell.
LETTER XXIII
NICE, December 19, 1764.
SIR, - In my last, I gave you a succinct account of the silkworm,
and the management of that curious insect in this country. I
shall now proceed to describe the methods of making wine and oil.
The vintage begins in September. The grapes being chosen and
carefully picked, are put into a large vat, where they are
pressed by a man's naked feet, and the juices drawn off by a cock
below. When no more is procured by this operation, the bruised
grapes are put into the press, and yield still more liquor. The
juice obtained by this double pressure, being put in casks, with
their bungs open, begins to ferment and discharge its impurities
at the openings. The waste occasioned by this discharge, is
constantly supplied with fresh wine, so that the casks are
always full. The fermentation continues for twelve, fifteen, or
twenty days, according to the strength and vigour of the grape.
In about a month, the wine is fit for drinking. When the grapes
are of a bad, meagre kind, the wine dealers mix the juice with
pigeons'-dung or quick-lime, in order to give it a spirit which
nature has denied: but this is a very mischievous adulteration.
The process for oil-making is equally simple. The best olives are
those that grow wild; but the quantity of them is very
inconsiderable. Olives begin to ripen and drop in the beginning
of November: but some remain on the trees till February, and even
till April, and these are counted the most valuable. When the
olives are gathered, they must be manufactured immediately,
before they fade and grow wrinkled, otherwise they will produce
bad oil. They are first of all ground into a paste by a mill-stone
set edge-ways in a circular stone-trough, the wheel being
turned by water.
This paste is put into trails or circular cases made of grass
woven, having a round hole at top and bottom; when filled they
resemble in shape our Cheshire cheeses. A number of these placed
one upon another, are put in a press, and being squeezed, the oil
with all its impurities, runs into a receptacle below fixed in
the ground. From hence it is laded into a wooden vat, half filled
with water. The sordes or dirt falls to the bottom; the oil swims
a-top; and being skimmed off, is barrelled up in small oblong
casks. What remains in the vat, is thrown into a large stone
cistern with water, and after being often stirred, and standing
twelve or fourteen days, yields a coarser oil used for lamps and
manufactures. After these processes, they extract an oil still
more coarse and fetid from the refuse of the whole. Sometimes, in
order to make the olives grind the more easily into a paste, and
part with more oil, they are mixed with a little hot water: but
the oil thus procured is apt to grow rancid. The very finest,
called virgin oil, is made chiefly of green olives, and sold at
a very high price, because a great quantity is required to
produce a very little oil. Even the stuff that is left after all
these operations, consisting of the dried pulp, is sold for fuel,
and used in brasieres for warming apartments which have no
chimney.
I have now specified all the manufactures of Nice which are worth
mentioning. True it is, there is some coarse paper made in this
neighbourhood; there are also people here who dress skins and
make leather for the use of the inhabitants: but this business is
very ill performed: the gloves and shoes are generally rotten as
they come from the hands of the maker. Carpenter's, joiner's, and
blacksmith's work is very coarsely and clumsily done. There are
no chairs to be had at Nice, but crazy things made of a few
sticks, with rush bottoms, which are sold for twelve livres a
dozen. Nothing can be more contemptible than the hard-ware made
in this place, such as knives, scissors, and candle-snuffers. All
utensils in brass and copper are very ill made and finished. The
silver-smiths make nothing but spoons, forks, paultry rings, and
crosses for the necks of the women.
The houses are built of a ragged stone dug from the mountains,
and the interstices are filled with rubble; so that the walls
would appear very ugly, if they were not covered with plaister,
which has a good effect. They generally consist of three stories,
and are covered with tiles. The apartments of the better sort are
large and lofty, the floors paved with brick, the roofs covered
with a thick coat of stucco, and the walls whitewashed. People of
distinction hang their chambers with damask, striped silk,
painted cloths, tapestry, or printed linnen. All the doors, as
well as the windows, consist of folding leaves. As there is no
wainscot in the rooms, which are divided by stone partitions and
the floors and cieling are covered with brick and stucco, fires
are of much less dreadful consequence here than in our country.
Wainscot would afford harbour for bugs: besides, white walls have
a better effect in this hot climate. The beds commonly used in
this place, and all over Italy, consist of a paillasse, with one
or two mattrasses, laid upon planks, supported by two wooden
benches.
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