The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3 · the Elder Pliny
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] CHAP. 23. (12.)—HOW THE RESIN CALLED ZOPISSA IS PREPARED. We must not omit, too, that the Greeks call by the name of zopissa[2342] the pitch mixed with wax which has been scraped from off the bottoms of sea-going ships;[2343] for there is nothing, in fact, that has been left untried by mankind. This composition is found much more efficient for all those purposes in which pitch and resin are employed, in consequence of the superior hardness which has been imparted to it by the sea-salt.
The pitch-tree is opened[2344] on the side that faces the sun, not by means of an incision, but of a wound made by the removal of the bark: this opening being generally two feet in width and one cubit from the ground, at the very least. The body of the tree, too, is not spared in this instance, as in others, for even the very chips from off it are considered as having their use; those, however, from the lower part of the tree are looked upon as the best, the wood of the higher parts giving the resin a bitter[2345] taste. In a short time all the resinous juices of the entire tree come to a point of confluence in the wound so inflicted: the same process is adopted also with the torch-tree. When the liquid ceases to flow, the tree is opened in a similar manner in some other part, and then, again, elsewhere: after which the whole tree is cut down, and the pith[2346] of it is used for burning.[2347]
So, too, in Syria they take the bark from off the terebinth; and, indeed, in those parts they do not spare even the root or branches, although in general the resin obtained from those parts is held in disesteem. In Macedonia they subject the whole of the male larch to the action of fire, but of the female[2348] only the roots. Theopompus has stated in his writings that in the territory of the Apolloniates there is found a kind of mineral pitch,[2349] not inferior to that of Macedonia. The best pitch[2350] everywhere is that obtained from trees planted on sunny spots with a north-east aspect; while that which is produced from more shaded localities has a disagreeable look and a repulsive odour. Pitch, too, that is produced amid the cold of winter is of inferior quality, being in smaller quantity, too, and comparatively colourless. Some persons are of opinion that in mountainous localities this liquid is produced in the greatest abundance, and that it is of superior colour and of a sweeter taste and has a finer smell so long as it remains in a state of resin; but that when, on the other hand, it is subjected to boiling, it yields a smaller quantity of pitch, because so much of it goes[2351] off in a serous shape. They say that the resinous trees, too, that grow on mountains are thinner than those that are found on plains, but that they are apt, both of them, to be unproductive in clear, dry weather.
Some trees, too, afford a flow of resinous juice the year after the incision is made, some, again, in the second year, and others in the third. The wound so made is filled with resin, but not with bark, or by the cicatrization of the outer coat; for the bark in this tree never unites. Among these varieties some authors have made the sappium[2352] to constitute a peculiar kind, because it is produced from the seed of a kindred variety, as we have already stated when speaking of the nuts[2353] of trees; and they have given the name of tæda[2354] to the lower parts of the tree; although in reality this tree is nothing else but a pitch-tree, which by careful cultivation has lost some small portion of its wild character. The name “sappinus” is also given to the timber of these trees when cut, as we shall have occasion to mention[2355] hereafter. CHAP. 24. (13.)—TREES THE WOOD OF WHICH IS HIGHLY VALUED. FOUR VARIETIES OF THE ASH. It is for the sake of their timber that Nature has created the other trees, and more particularly the ash,[2356] which yields it in greater abundance. This is a tall, tapering tree, with a feather-like leaf: it has been greatly ennobled by the encomiums of Homer, and the fact that it formed the spear of Achilles:[2357] the wood of it is employed for numerous purposes. The ash which grows upon Mount Ida, in Troas, is so extremely like the cedar,[2358] that, when the bark is removed, it will deceive a purchaser.
The Greeks have distinguished two varieties of this tree, the one long and without knots, the other short, with a harder wood, of a darker colour, and a leaf like that of the laurel. In Macedonia they give the name of “bumelia”[2359] to an ash of remarkably large size, with a wood of extreme flexibility. Some authors have divided this tree into several varieties, according to the localities which it inhabits, and say that the ash of the plains has a spotted wood, while that of the mountain ash is more compact. Some Greek writers have stated that the leaf of the ash is poisonous[2360] to beasts of burden, but harmless to all the animals that ruminate.[2361] The leaves of this tree in Italy, however, are not injurious to beasts of burden even; so far from it, in fact, that nothing has been found to act as so good a specific for the bites of serpents[2362] as to drink the juice extracted from the leaves, and to apply them to the wounds. So great, too, are the virtues of this tree, that no serpent will ever lie in the shadow thrown by it, either in the morning or the evening, be it ever so long; indeed, they will always keep at the greatest possible distance from it. We state the fact from ocular demonstration,[2363] that if a serpent and a lighted fire are placed within a circle formed of the leaves of the ash, the reptile will rather throw itself into the fire than encounter the leaves of the tree. By a wonderful provision of Nature, the ash has been made to blossom before the serpents leave their holes, and the fall of its leaf does not take place till after they have retired for the winter.
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