Californian Pineapple Jelly

Pare neatly a ripe, medium-sized pineapple; split it in two lengthwise; remove the core and cut it into thin crosswise slices; arrange these in a dish and cover with a quart of thirty-degree syrup and one gill of cognac; let macerate for two hours. Put into a tinned basin four ounces of gelatine with a quart of water, the juice of four lemons and six oranges, also the peel of half a lemon and the same of an orange; clarify with six egg-whites, adding, just before the filtering process, all of the syrup used for marinating the pineapple. As soon as the jelly is properly filtered pour it into a vessel, cool partly on ice, and let fall on the top three pure gold leaves; mix the jelly so that the gold separates and spreads. Incrust a jelly mold on pounded ice, pour into it a layer of the gold mixed jelly and let it get hard; on this dress a crown of the prepared pineapples, drained and well wiped, and over pour a second layer of the jelly; when this is also hard range another crown of pineapple, and continue until the mold is full. Set the jelly on ice for two hours to stiffen thoroughly; unmold it on a cold dish and surround the base with a circle of the slices of pineapple, one overlapping the other.