The correspondence of this series of wine and corn measures, in southern water-wheat ratio, is perfect, even after many centuries, probably since the tenth century. The Escandau and the Panau or Eimino correspond then to about 4 wine-gallons and 4 corn-gallons.
The Escandau has always been understood to be a cubic pán. Escandau[[48]] means a standard; Pán means a side, pane or panel, and it is the measure of the side of a ‘quadrantal’ containing an Escandau of water, as our foot is the measure of one containing an English talent of 1000 Roman ounces of water. The cube root of 16·096 litres is 25·24 centimetres, a length differing by less than a millimetre from the standard of the Marseilles pán = 25·16 centimetres or 9·9 inches.
Land-measures
The ancient system of seed-measures, fixed geometrically, survives to this day in Southern France, indeed throughout most of France. I shall make no apology for dwelling on it, for the linear land and cubic measures of Southern France show a perfectly concordant system of measures, more so even than those of England; indeed they are the type of a perfect system.
The largest unit of land is the Saumado, of 4 Sesteirado, each of 2 Eiminado; these being originally the ground that could be sown with a Saumado (or Cargo), with a Sestié, with an Eimino, of wheat.
These seed-measures of land corresponding to our Coomb, Bushel and Peck land, became fixed respectively at 1600, at 400, and at 200 square cano or fathoms.
To the Sestié and the Sesteirado correspond the boisseau and boisselée of Poitou and other provinces, the boisselée, or bushel-land, being 400 square toises.
But the surveyor’s measuring-rod is the Destre, a double cano, of 16 pán = 13 ft. 2-1/2 in. In Languedoc, west of the Rhone, the square destre = 4 square cano is the smallest unit, so that the Saumado of land is 1600 square cano or 400 destre. But in Provence the destre of land is 2 square cano, so that the Saumado is 1600 square cano or 800 destre; the reason probably being that the destre should be 2 cano superficial as it is 2 cano linear, and also that the Eiminado or peck-seedlip of land should be 100 destre.
The Eiminado is divided into quarters and sixteenths, corresponding to the gallon and quart divisions of the Eimino or peck. It is also divided into 20 Cosso, the ground corresponding to a cosso (= quart, wine-measure) of seed.
It is interesting to observe that the Saumado of 4 Sesteirado of 40 Cosso, corresponds, in division, to our Acre of 4 roods, of 40 square rods.[[49]] And the Cosso = 1/100 acre or 1/10 sq. chain.