58 



" in any other place. Hence numerous oil houses are 

 " established at Gallipoli, and a very considerable portion 

 " of the rock is cut into cisterns. A Gallipolitan oil 

 " warehouse generally occupies the ground floor of a 

 " dwelling-house, and has a low arched roof. Some are 

 " more extensive, but on an average they are about 

 " thirty feet square. In the stone floor you see four, six, 

 " or more holes, which are circular, about two feet in 

 " diameter, and like the mouths of wells. Each of these 

 " holes gives access to a separate cistern beneath your 

 " feet ; and when the oil is poured into them, care is 

 " taken not to mix different qualities, or oils at different 

 " stages, in the same reservoir. One cistern is set apart 

 " for oglio mosto, or oil that is not clarified, another for 

 " pure oil of the season, another for old oil, &c. I have 

 " seen oil that had thus been preserved for seven years in 

 " a perfect state. I, also, many times verified the fact 

 " that the nwsto, or oil in its turbid state, which arrived 

 ec almost as black and thick as pitch, soon became bright 

 " and yellow in these excellent reservoirs, without any 

 " help from man. 



" All the oil, whatever may be its quality, is brought 

 " to the magazine in sheep or goat skins, which are 

 " generally carried on mules — there being but few 

 " 6 strade rotabili,' or roads fit for wheeled carriages, in 

 " these parts. In a good year, and at the proper season, 

 " I have counted, in the course of an afternoon's ride, 

 " as many as 100 mules returning from Gallipoli, where 

 " they had been to deposit their unctuous burdens, to 

 " different towns and villages in the SerraD'Otranto, or 

 " the more distant province of Bari. The quantity of 

 " oil required may be conceived, when I state that at 

 " one time (in the year 1810), I saw nine English, three 

 " American, two Erench, 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." 



Of the more elaborate processes, the following are 

 taken from Ure, viz. : — 



