APPENDIX. 373 



anything but agreeable to the taste. They are then placed in a 

 huge boiler, wherein, for from one and a half to two hours, they 

 are boiled tender. The seeds and pithy matter in the centre are 

 then scooped out and thrown away, and the rind is put to soak in 

 water slightly sweetened. This extracts a portion of the salt 

 which it has received in the pickle, and imparts a slightly saccha- 

 rine flavor. The next day it is taken out of the iirst solution and 

 placed in a second ; the next day in a third ; the next in a fourth ; 

 the next in a fifth, and the next in a sixth ; each of these solu- 

 tions being a degree sweeter than the former, and by this time it 

 has lost all the salt flavor and has become quite sweet. It is then 

 boUed up for a short time in very heavy syrup, from whence it 

 is taken out and placed in flat baskets, piled on racks in warm 

 rooms, and left to dry and crystallize. Here it remains six or 

 eight hours, when it is ready for packing, and is put up in the 

 usual thin wooden boxes, in which shape it is familiar to all gro- 

 cers. Here again, however, fashion in trade is exhibited ; for the 

 English market it is packed in half boxes, for the German market 

 in quarters, and a portion of each style is sent to America. 

 Lemon and orange peel is prepared and packed to a limited extent 

 in the same way. In short, citron may be roughly described as 

 the thick peel of a species of lemon, pickled to extract its bitter 

 flavor and absorb the oil, boiled to make it tender, saturated with 

 white sugar syrup to make it palatable, and, in this shape it con- 

 stitutes one of the ingredients of the plum puddings and wedding 

 cakes of the world. So much for Leghorn and its citron. 



Now for Naples and its macaroni. Naples is probably better 

 known from its contiguity to Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii than 

 from any other cause, but it deserves to be known for itself. Beau- 

 tifully situated on a hillside, sloping up from the shores of a lovely 



bay indeed, now that I recollect, Naples is celebrated for its 



beauty — with a climate probably as perfect as it is possible to find, 

 and in the centre of a fertile district which grows wheat, wine, 

 oils, and fruits in profusion, there are few places more favorablv 

 situated, either for commerce or residence, than Naples. A quaint 

 old place it is, too, with its narrow streets and tall houses of six 

 or seven stories, all of which seem to swarm with population to 

 their very roofs. Flocks of goats, which pasture in the surround- 



