Note 153 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
Chandler (vol. ii. p. 245) describes the process of making butter in Greece, by putting cream in a goat’s skin, and trampling on it. The method referred to I shall presently describe: no cream is used.
Silvestre de Sacy translates the title of Kholil Daheri’s work on Egypt; “Cream of the Exposition.” It occurs in the taunting letter of Shah Rock to Timour; he says,—
“Your expressions are the Zebed of language.” The word is translated elsewhere foam (caïmah).—Cf. Chresth. Arabe, t. ii. pp. 11, 76.
“That they skimmed the milk is evident, whatever they may have done with the cream. Philostrates mentions vessels filled to the brim with milk, on which the cream lies rich and shining.”—St. John’s Ancient Greece, vol. ii. p. 286.
The passage referred to has not a word about cream; it is as follows; ψυκτῆρες γάλακτος, οὐ λευκοῦ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ στίλπνου. καὶ γὰρ στιλβεῖν ἔοικεν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιπολαζούσης αὐτῷ πιμελῆς.—Icon. i. xxxi. p. 809. “Vases of milk, not only white but shining, for they appeared to shine from the floating fat.” The shining skin which covers boiled milk is here accurately described.