48 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
the sirup ran out and collected in narrow gutters and finally fermented 
intanks. After fermentation of the surplus fig juice a kind of brandy 
of very good quality was distilled. The figs were again spread on 
stone or cane floors in the open courts and gardens and exposed to 
the sun fora longer or shorter time, according to the weather. When 
dry the figs were pressed into small baskets made of braided palm 
leaves, each basket holding 28 pounds. The number of varieties of 
figs grown in Portugal is very great. The fig used for drying in 
Algarve is a large, white fig different from the Smyrna figs, so far as 
may be judged from descriptions. The best variety in Portugal is 
known as the ‘‘figo da Comadre,” or Godmother fig, so named because 
the best is always reserved for the comadre and the compadre, words 
hardly to be translated into English, but which play a great part in 
the home life of the Latin races. 
The next best variety when dried is known as “‘ figo mercante,” while 
the third and poorest kind goes under the name of ‘‘ figo chocho.” 
Of these figs large quantities are yet exported, principally to Bel- 
gium, Holland, and France. The annual export averages 8,000 tons, 
or about one-half that of Italy. 
The first crop, the fiori or the brebas, is known in Portugal as *‘ figos 
lampas,” while the second crop is called ‘‘ figos vendimos.” For table 
use the red-fig varieties are considered the best. In the vicinity of Faro 
the ‘“‘figo do euchario” and the ‘‘do bispo” are the most valued varieties. 
The Lampeira is one of the best red figs, producing only a first crop, 
called the lampas. In Italy this fig is known as the Portoghese, and 
is considered a very good early fig, somewhat like the San Pedro. As 
regards culture and curing little is to be learned from the Portuguese. 
For cutting the figs from the trees a long bamboo pole is used, the end 
being split or forked. Below the fork a small basket of braided straw 
is hung to receive the falling fig, which is easily detached by pushing 
the fork upward. Only the best figs—a comparatively small propor- 
tion of the crop-—are dried. This drying is on mats woven of the esparto 
grass (Stipa tenacissima). Asa result of the poor handling of the fig, 
this industry has decreased greatly in recent years. Portuguese table 
figs, which were once the staple article of figs in the western world, 
are now hardly known outside of Portugal, the carefully cured and 
beautifully packed Smyrna figs having driven the Portuguese article 
almost out of the market. 
The glory of Faro, as regards figs at least, is past. The harbor has 
become much filled in, and few figs are now sent abroad from this port. 
The trade in figs, on a much diminished seale, has been almost com- 
pletely transferred to the better and more readily accessible port of 
Villa Nova do Portimao. Fig culture and curing have of late pro- 
gressed but little in Portugal. Curing and packing, as practiced in 
Smyrna, are entirely unknown. When the Portuguese figs were 
refused by the foreign trade the cultivators and merchants did not 
