Читать книгу Trekking in Mallorca. GR221 - The Drystone Route through the Serra de Tramuntana онлайн

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Pitgen sa neu, pitgen sa neu,

i tots estan dins ses cases!

Peguen potades, peguen potades,

en Toni, en Xisco, en Juan i n’Andreu.

Tramp the snow, tramp the snow,

and throw it in the pit!

Beat it down, beat it down,

on Tony, Harry, John and Andrew.

The packed snow was put into the pit and each layer was covered with càrritx, a tall pampas-like grass, to make it easier to split the blocks later. When the pit was full it was covered with ashes, branches and more càrritx, then carefully guarded. On summer nights blocks of ice were taken down on mules to the villages and towns. It was not only used for ice creams and cooling drinks, but also for medicinal preparations. The local authority controlled the price and a tax was fixed on it. Sometimes ice had to be imported from the mainland, but in glut years it was exported to neighbouring Menorca. The last time a snow-pit was used was in 1925 on Puig de Massanella. The industry was killed stone-dead by the advent of modern refrigeration techniques.