The earliest scenes were made by a graffito technique: drilling tiny holes and scratching lines in the marble and filling these with bitumen or mineral pitch.

Then we crossed a lake of burning oil or mineral pitch, with flames that were half a mile in height; and the temperature rose uncomfortably in spite of our refrigerating system.

The former sense relates to substances such as "asphaltum", bitumen, or "mineral pitch" or carabe which have in the past been used as one of the ingredients in the preservation process of mummies.