CQRK.S. 167 



reflects the fier-\' glow of the e\'ennig sk)'. We satiate 

 ourselves with this feast of colour and then let our e^'es 

 rest on the dark green of the distant woods. Gradually 

 a purple sheen spreads over the sea, and now under the 

 raA'S of the evening sun the lies d'or of Hyeres shine 

 as though the}- were realh' gold. 



Large quantities of cork are piled up in front of 

 the houses at Bormes. We entered a house in which 

 cork was being cut and watched the work. The man, 

 who received us politeh', was making bottle-corks with 

 the help of a lathe. He fastened angular pieces of cork 

 into the spindle, set it revolving, and cut the cork with 

 a tool resembling a plane. Great practice is rec[uired 

 to insert the pieces of cork securely and C|uickly into 

 the lathe, and to centre them correctly. If the worker 

 be skilled he can make hundreds of corks in the hour, 

 whereas cutting freehand he could scarceh' bring the 

 number up to a thousand in the day. The sheets of 

 cork have to be scalded in water before the\' are sliced 

 into angular strips. The}- s^^•ell considerabl}- under this 

 treatment. The longer axis of the bottle corks coincides 

 with the length of the sheets : the corks must be ima- 

 gined as standing upright in the bark of the tree. 



The scraps which fall from the lathe are b}- no 

 means useless. The^- ma^' be used in upholster^' or, 

 when \\ell charred, may be made into a black colouring 

 matter called "nigrum hispanicum", or into tooth powder. 

 Pulverized cork, mi-\ed with thickened linseed oil and 

 spread on water-proof sail-cloth, makes the cork-carpet 

 known as linoleum with which floors are covered. 



