304 CALABRIAN MANNA. 



i87a. eastern coast of Calabria. Of the latter he remarks that " it is 



(krilui. a bishopric of Calabria round which they collect the best 



manna and in the greatest quantity. The owners of the manna- 

 trees are obliged to sell their manna to the king for a fixed 

 price ; the better sort, or what is commonly called in cannole, 

 for 2 carlini [8d.], and the worse, or infrasca, for 8 grani [3d] 

 the pound. These revenues are farmed for 32,000 ducats 

 [5,533] per annum. The greatest quantity is collected about 

 Cariati and Strongoli." 



About twenty miles west of Cariati is the small town of 

 Corigliano, where, says the Baron, they also collect " vast 

 quantities of manna" 



Half a century after this traveller, an Englishman, the Hon. 

 Richard Keppel Craven, made a journey through Calabria, 

 visiting among other places Cariati, the vicinity of which was 

 at that period still famous for manna. The following is from 

 his published journal 1 : " The mountains near Cariati abound 

 with game, and the forests which richly clothe their summits 

 furnish quantities of that species of ash which produces the 

 manna, a considerable branch of commerce in this province, 

 and more particularly esteemed from this district." 



The foregoing notices, scanty as they are, are yet of interest 



as corning from eye-witnesses, or at least from inquiries on the 



Personal ob- spot. Let me now add a few observations of my own, the result 



serrations. O f a s h or t journey during the present year through a portion of 



the province of Calabria Citra. 



Florence. First, when at Florence I inquired for Calabrian manna, 

 addressing myself to the principal firm of wholesale druggists 

 in that city. The answer I got was that Calabrian manna was 

 an article they never purchased, but that if I wished to see the 

 drug it was possible, as it so happened that a small keg of it 

 had been sent to them for disposal. Of this offer I availed 

 myself: I found to my surprise that the drug was a soft viscid 

 mass containing small tears, mixed with fragments of leaves, 

 sticks, and dirt, in fact, I regarded it of such very bad quality 



1 Tour through the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples, London, 



