NICE, December 19, 1764.
SIR,--In my last, I gave you a succinct account of the silkworm, and
the management of that curious insect in this country. I shall now
proceed to describe the methods of making wine and oil.
The vintage begins in September. The grapes being chosen and carefully
picked, are put into a large vat, where they are pressed by a man's
naked feet, and the juices drawn off by a cock below. When no more is
procured by this operation, the bruised grapes are put into the press,
and yield still more liquor. The juice obtained by this double
pressure, being put in casks, with their bungs open, begins to ferment
and discharge its impurities at the openings. The waste occasioned by
this discharge, is constantly supplied with fresh wine, so that the
casks are always full. The fermentation continues for twelve, fifteen,
or twenty days, according to the strength and vigour of the grape. In
about a month, the wine is fit for drinking. When the grapes are of a
bad, meagre kind, the wine dealers mix the juice with pigeons'-dung or
quick-lime, in order to give it a spirit which nature has denied: but
this is a very mischievous adulteration.
The process for oil-making is equally simple. The best olives are those
that grow wild; but the quantity of them is very inconsiderable. Olives
begin to ripen and drop in the beginning of November: but some remain
on the trees till February, and even till April, and these are counted
the most valuable. When the olives are gathered, they must be
manufactured immediately, before they fade and grow wrinkled, otherwise
they will produce bad oil. They are first of all ground into a paste by
a mill-stone set edge-ways in a circular stone-trough, the wheel being
turned by water.
This paste is put into trails or circular cases made of grass woven,
having a round hole at top and bottom; when filled they resemble in
shape our Cheshire cheeses. A number of these placed one upon another,
are put in a press, and being squeezed, the oil with all its
impurities, runs into a receptacle below fixed in the ground. From
hence it is laded into a wooden vat, half filled with water. The sordes
or dirt falls to the bottom; the oil swims a-top; and being skimmed
off, is barrelled up in small oblong casks. What remains in the vat, is
thrown into a large stone cistern with water, and after being often
stirred, and standing twelve or fourteen days, yields a coarser oil
used for lamps and manufactures. After these processes, they extract an
oil still more coarse and fetid from the refuse of the whole.
Sometimes, in order to make the olives grind the more easily into a
paste, and part with more oil, they are mixed with a little hot water:
but the oil thus procured is apt to grow rancid. The very finest,
called virgin oil, is made chiefly of green olives, and sold at a very
high price, because a great quantity is required to produce a very
little oil. Even the stuff that is left after all these operations,
consisting of the dried pulp, is sold for fuel, and used in brasieres
for warming apartments which have no chimney.
I have now specified all the manufactures of Nice which are worth
mentioning. True it is, there is some coarse paper made in this
neighbourhood; there are also people here who dress skins and make
leather for the use of the inhabitants: but this business is very ill
performed: the gloves and shoes are generally rotten as they come from
the hands of the maker. Carpenter's, joiner's, and blacksmith's work is
very coarsely and clumsily done. There are no chairs to be had at Nice,
but crazy things made of a few sticks, with rush bottoms, which are
sold for twelve livres a dozen. Nothing can be more contemptible than
the hard-ware made in this place, such as knives, scissors, and
candle-snuffers. All utensils in brass and copper are very ill made and
finished. The silver-smiths make nothing but spoons, forks, paultry
rings, and crosses for the necks of the women.
The houses are built of a ragged stone dug from the mountains, and the
interstices are filled with rubble; so that the walls would appear very
ugly, if they were not covered with plaister, which has a good effect.
They generally consist of three stories, and are covered with tiles.
The apartments of the better sort are large and lofty, the floors paved
with brick, the roofs covered with a thick coat of stucco, and the
walls whitewashed. People of distinction hang their chambers with
damask, striped silk, painted cloths, tapestry, or printed linnen. All
the doors, as well as the windows, consist of folding leaves. As there
is no wainscot in the rooms, which are divided by stone partitions and
the floors and cieling are covered with brick and stucco, fires are of
much less dreadful consequence here than in our country. Wainscot would
afford harbour for bugs: besides, white walls have a better effect in
this hot climate. The beds commonly used in this place, and all over
Italy, consist of a paillasse, with one or two mattrasses, laid upon
planks, supported by two wooden benches. Instead of curtains there is a
couziniere or mosquito net, made of a kind of gauze, that opens and
contracts occasionally, and incloses the place where you lie: persons
of condition, however, have also bedsteads and curtains; but these last
are never used in the summer.
In these countries, people of all ranks dine exactly at noon; and this
is the time I seize in winter, for making my daily tour of the streets
and ramparts, which at all other hours of the day are crowded with men,
women, children and beasts of burthen. The rampart is the common road
for carriages of all kinds. I think there are two private coaches in
Nice, besides that of the commandant: but there are sedan chairs, which
may be had at a reasonable rate. When I bathed in the summer, I paid
thirty sols, equal to eighteen-pence, for being carried to and from the
bathing place, which was a mile from my own house.
Now I am speaking of bathing, it may not be amiss to inform you that
though there is a fine open beach, extending several miles to the
westward of Nice, those who cannot swim ought to bathe with great
precaution, as the sea is very deep, and the descent very abrupt from
within a yard or two of the water's edge. The people here were much
surprised when I began to bathe in the beginning of May. They thought
it very strange, that a man seemingly consumptive should plunge into
the sea, especially when the weather was so cold; and some of the
doctors prognosticated immediate death. But, when it was perceived that
I grew better in consequence of the bath, some of the Swiss officers
tried the same experiment, and in a few days, our example was followed
by several inhabitants of Nice. There is, however, no convenience for
this operation, from the benefit of which the fair sex must be intirely
excluded, unless they lay aside all regard to decorum; for the shore is
always lined with fishing-boats, and crouded with people. If a lady
should be at the expence of having a tent pitched on the beach where
she might put on and of her bathing-dress, she could not pretend to go
into the sea without proper attendants; nor could she possibly plunge
headlong into the water, which is the most effectual, and least
dangerous way of bathing. All that she can do is to have the sea-water
brought into her house, and make use of a bathing-tub, which may be
made according to her own, or physician's direction.
What further I have to say of this climate and country, you shall have
in my next; and then you will be released from a subject, which I am
afraid has been but too circumstantially handled by-- Sir, Your very
humble servant.