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.