oiling cocons is
extremely offensive. Hard by the harbour, there is a very curious mill
for twisting the silk, which goes by water. There is in the town of
Nice, a well regulated hospital for poor orphans of both sexes, where
above one hundred of them are employed in dressing, dyeing, spinning,
and weaving the silk. In the villages of Provence, you see the poor
women in the streets spinning raw silk upon distaves: but here the same
instrument is only used for spinning hemp and flax; which last,
however, is not of the growth of Nice--But lest I should spin this
letter to a tedious length, I will now wind up my bottom, and bid you
heartily farewell.

LETTER XXIII

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 ci