362 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



mules returning from Gallipoli, where they had 

 been to deposit their unctuous burdens, to dif- 

 ferent towns and villages in the Terra d'Otranto, 

 or the more distant province of Bari. The 

 quantity of oil required may be conceived vfhen 

 I state, that at one time (in the year 1816) I 

 saw nine English, three American, two French, 

 and six Genoese vessels (not to mention some 

 small craft from the Adriatic), all waiting in the 

 port of Gallipoli for entire or partial cargoes of 

 it. When the oil is to be shipped it is drawn 

 off from the cistcrne into uteri, or skins, and so 

 carried on men's shoiilders down to a small house 

 on the sea shore. In that house there is a large 

 open basin, capable of containing a given quan- 

 tity, and of measuring the liquid, and into that 

 the porters empty their skins as they arrive. A 

 tube communicates from the basin to a large 

 cock at the outside of the house. When the 

 basin is full, well made casks of various sizes, for 

 the convenience of stowage, are placed under the 

 cock, which is then turned, and the casks are 

 filled. As the casks are closed up by the cooper, 

 the porters roll them down to the brink of the 

 sea, where the sailors secure several of them to- 

 gether with a rope, and taking the end of the 

 cord into the boat, they row off to the vessel, 

 towing the oil casks through the water after 

 them. 



" Each porter being able to carry but a small 

 quantity at a time, tire number of men and boys 

 employed to load a ship is very considerable ; 

 and as these are an active fine limbed set of fel- 

 lows, going with their legs and arms entirely 

 bare, and running up and down and crossing 

 each other with their oil skins, on their way to 

 and from the town, with great rapidity, and as 

 they delight in singing as they work, and more- 

 over, frequently sing very well in parts and con- 

 cert, the scene presented on such occasions is often 

 very animating and pleasing. 



" The hilarity of the Gallipolitans when I first 

 became acquainted with them, might have been 

 heightened by an agreeable contrast, for it was 

 shortly after the fall of Bonaparte, whose system, 

 whatever good parts of it may have done in the 

 rest of Italy, was certainly most ruinous to the 

 provinces of Lecce and Bari. Unable to export 

 or to find any market for their produce, the pro- 

 prietors in many parts of those provinces let the 

 olives lie and rot upon the ground. For some 

 years, indeed, the price of oil scarcely paid the 

 cost of its preparation, to say nothing of trans- 

 port and other necessary expenses. During the 

 continental system the best ' chiaro, giallo, e 

 lampante ' oil was sold at Gallipoli for eight Nea- 

 politan ducats the salma;''' in 1816 and 1817 it 

 found a ready market at from sixty to seventy 

 ducats per salma ! 



* Tho salma is equal to 42^ English gallons. 



" Those who, during the evil time, had pene- 

 tration enough to foresee better days, and that 

 a system opposed to the general commercial pros- 

 perity of Europe could not last, and who had at 

 the same time money enough for such objects 

 by annually making their oil as usual, and by 

 buying up the oil of others at the low current 

 prices of the day, realized enormous profits when 

 peace threw open the port of Gallipoli, and ships 

 of all nations flocked thither as before. 



" I have been in no part of Europe where the 

 benefits resulting from the peace were so broad 

 and tangible as liere. At the end of 1816 these 

 provinces had already partially recovered; those 

 proprietors whom the war had left in debt were 

 gradually paying off their obligations; those 

 groves which had been almost abandoned were 

 again looked to as a source of wealth, and the 

 poor peasantry were restored to their ancient 

 employment. In 1818 the improvement was 

 much farther advanced ; and though, since that 

 period, owing to the increased use of gas, the ex- 

 tended cultivation of rape for oil, and various 

 other circumstances, the olive oil shipped at Gal- 

 lipoli and other ports has declined considerably 

 in price and somewhat in quantity, it may still 

 be held as a valuable product ; and Lecce and 

 Bari, in regard to the condition of the rest of the 

 kingdom they belong to, may be considered as 

 two prosperous provinces. 



" The olives of which the Gallipoli oil is made 

 are never gathered, but allowed to drop in their 

 maturity from the tree on the ground, where 

 they are picked up chiefly by women and chil- 

 dren, and carried to the mill. 



" The machinery employed in expressing the 

 oil is of the rudest kind, and no doubt numerous 

 improvements might be introduced, not only into 

 this branch, but into that of cultivating the olive 

 tree. The peasantry, however, ar.d in the king- 

 dom of Naples those who stand higher in the 

 scale of fortune and rank, are too often but boors 

 in intellect, are obstinate in their attachment to 

 old practices, and are apt, when any of these are 

 reprehended, to stop discussion by saying, ' Fac- 

 cio comefaceva la huon'anima di mio padre, e cib 

 basta' (I do as my father, of blessed memory, 

 did before me, and that is enough). 



" The poor people of the country make culi- 

 nary uses of the same oil that is exported, and 

 which in England is only used in manufactures 

 or burnt in lamps; but in the houses of the 

 gentry I have often tasted oil prepared with more 

 care, which was truly delicious, being equal to 

 that of Sorrento, Vico, and Massa, or even to the 

 best oils of Tuscany or Provence." 



The oleafragrans is highly odoriferous, both 

 in the leaves and blossoms, and on this account 

 is much esteemed in China, where the leaves are 

 used to adulterate and flavour tea. 



