MADEIRA. 



21 



rapidly, and carry this load five miles for a mere trifle. To us, one 

 of the most remarkable features in the population, was to see a 

 female not only thus employed, but a stout mountain lass trudging 

 up a steep path with ease, under a load that would have staggered 

 one of our labourers, even for a short distance. 



The manner of expressing the juice I have no where seen particu- 

 larly described, and although a description of it may not add a relish 

 to the cup, yet it will show the manufacture as conducted according 

 to the old custom, at the present day. A friend of our consul was 

 obliging enough to show us his works, and the machinery for 

 expressing the juice from the grape. It was in a rude sort of shed. 

 On our approach we heard a sort of song, with a continued thumping, 

 and on entering, saw six men stamping violently in a vat of six 

 feet square by two feet deep, three on each side of a huge lever beam, 

 their legs bare up to the thighs. On our entrance they redoubled 

 their exertions till the perspiration fairly poured from them ; the 

 vat had been filled with grapes, and by their exertions we were 

 enabled to see the whole process. After the grapes had been suffi- 



WINE- PRESS. 



ciently stamped, and the men's legs well scraped, the pulp was made 

 into the shape of a large bee-hive, a rope made of the young twigs of 

 the vine being wound around it. The lever was then used, which 

 has a large stone or rock attached to it by a screw. Much time is 

 lost in adjusting this, and much consultation and dispute had. The 

 juice flows off, and is received in tubs. The produce of the press is 

 on an average about fifty gallons daily. Each gallon requires about 

 two bushels of grapes. The taste is very much like sweet cider. 

 The process is any thing but pleasing, and endeavours have been 



