The fir is the largest of them all, the female being the taller of the two; the wood, too, is softer and more easily worked. This tree is of a rounder form than the others, and its leaves are closely packed and feathered, so as not to admit of the passage of rain; the appearance, too, of the tree is altogether more cheerful. From the branches of these different varieties, with the sole exception of the larch,[2316] there hang numbers of scaly nuts of compact shape, like so many catkins. The nuts found upon the male fir have a kernel in the fore-part, which is not the case with those on the female tree. In the pitch-tree, again, these kernels, which are very small and black, occupy the whole of the catkin, which is smaller and more slender than in the other varieties; hence it is that the Greeks call this tree by the name of phthirophoron.[2317] In this tree, too, the nuts on the male are more compressed, and less moist with resin.
CHAP. 20.—THE YEW.
Not to omit any one of them, the yew[2318] is similar to these other trees in general appearance. It is of a colour, however, but slightly approaching to green, and of a slender form; of sombre and ominous aspect, and quite destitute of juice: it is the only one, too, among them all, that bears a berry. In the male tree the fruit is injurious; indeed, in Spain more particularly, the berries contain a deadly poison.[2319] It is an ascertained fact that travellers’ vessels,[2320] made in Gaul of this wood, for the purpose of holding wine, have caused the death of those who used them. Sextius says, that in Greece this tree is known by the name of “smilax,” and that in Arcadia it is possessed of so active a poison, that those who sleep beneath it, or even take food[2321] there, are sure to meet their death from it. There are authors, also, who assert that the poisons which we call at the present day “toxica,” and in which arrows are dipped, were formerly called taxica,[2322] from this tree. It has been discovered, also, that these poisonous qualities are quite neutralized by driving a copper nail into the wood of the tree.
CHAP. 21. (11.)—METHODS OF MAKING TAR—HOW CEDRIUM IS MADE.
In Europe, tar is extracted from the torch-tree[2323] by the agency of fire; it is employed for coating ships and for many other useful purposes.[2324] The wood of the tree is chopped[2325] into small billets, and then put into a furnace, which is heated by fires lighted on every side. The first steam that exudes flows in the form of water into a reservoir made for its reception: in Syria this substance is known as “cedrium;”[2326] and it possesses such remarkable strength, that in Egypt the bodies of the dead, after being steeped in it, are preserved from all corruption.[2327]
CHAP. 22.—METHODS BY WHICH THICK PITCH IS PREPARED.
The liquid that follows is of a thicker consistency, and constitutes pitch, properly so called. This liquid, thrown again into a brazen cauldron, and mixed with vinegar, becomes still[2328] thicker, and when left to coagulate, receives the name of “Bruttian”[2329] pitch. It is used, however, only for pitching the insides of dolia[2330] and other vessels, it differing from the other kinds in being more viscous, of a redder colour, and more unctuous than is usually the case. All these varieties of pitch are prepared from the pitch-tree, by putting red-hot stones, with the resinous wood, in troughs made of strong oak; or if these troughs are not attainable, by piling up billets of the wood in the method employed for the manufacture of charcoal.[2331] It is this pitch that is used for seasoning wine, being first pounded and reduced to a fine powder: it is of a blacker colour, too, than the other sort. The same resin, if boiled gently with water, and then strained off, becomes viscous, and assumes a red colour; it is then known as “distilled[2332] pitch:” for making this, the refuse portions of the resin and the bark of the tree are generally selected.
Another method is adopted for the manufacture of that used as crapula.[2333] Raw flower of resin is taken, direct from the tree, with a plentiful sprinkling of small, thin chips of the wood. These are then pounded[2334] down and passed through a sieve, after which they are steeped in water, which is heated till it comes to a boil. The unctuous portion that is extracted from this is the best resin: it is but rarely to be met with, and then only in a few places in Italy, in the vicinity of the Alps: it is in considerable request for medicinal purposes. For this, they generally boil a congius of white resin to two congii of rain-water:[2335] some persons, however, think it better[2336] to boil it without water for one whole day by a slow fire, taking care to use a vessel of white copper.[2337] Some, again, are in the habit of boiling the resin of the terebinth[2338] in a flat pan[2339] placed upon hot ashes, and prefer it to any other kind. The resin of the mastich[2340] is held in the next degree of estimation.[2341]