42 



ENVIRONS OF MALAGA. 



fill a box which contains an ar?'oba of 25 lbs. ; but 

 throughout the country it would require, on an average, 

 nine or ten. The grapes lose about two-thirds of their 

 weight in drying : this would, therefore, give a produce of 

 7 or 8 lbs. of grapes to each vine — a calculation which I 

 should think must include a much greater proportion of 

 stinted vines than of luxuriant ones ; for the majority of 

 those in Don Salvador's vineyard would, I have no doubt, 

 yield double that quantity. Including, however, those 

 vines which are visible at the tops even of the highest 

 hills, the calculation is likely enough to be correct . The 

 peasant whom we visited was making wine from some of 

 his grapes, which, after having been nearly dried, were 

 spoiled by the rain. In a small skilling, behind the cot- 

 tage, a portion of the floor, about ten feet square, was ele- 

 vated above the rest. It was paved with tiles, and a man 

 was busy trampling the raisins, which he had almost re- 

 duced to a paste. He heaped them into a corner as he 

 successively passed them under his feet for the press, 

 which was merely a large beam passing along the skilling, 

 without any screw, or any other means of giving it addi- 

 tional power as a lever. A little water was added to the 

 grapes to bring out the juice, and a part of the must was 

 on the fire boiling to add to its strength. We tasted some 

 wine made two months before from the Pedro Ximenes 

 grape, and also some from that grape mixed with the 

 Muscatel: both were as sweet and luscious as possible. 

 The grapes, when dried, are worth double what they 

 would yield made into wine, and therefore they are never 

 made into wine unless spoiled by the rain. 



They usually commence gathering the grapes about 

 the middle of August, choosing only such bunches as are 

 ripe. They return, after a week or two, to make another 

 selection, and soon for a third and fourth time. A place 



