338 SUPPLEMENT ON 



Gyllius speaks of them in terms well calculated to excite 

 astonishment. 



" They abound there," says he, " more than at Marseilles, 

 at Venice and Tarentum. Twenty vessels might be filled with 

 a single cast of the net. They may be taken without nets, 

 and with the hand. When they ascend towards the port in 

 crowded troops they can be killed with stones. The women 

 take them only by suspending from their windows a basket 

 with a cord. In fine, without there being any occasion to 

 bait the hooks, a sufficient quantity of pelamides may be 

 taken to provision the whole of Greece, and a great part of 

 Europe and Asia." 



Dupper, in his description of the Archipelago, and very 

 recently M. von Hammer, in that of Constantinople, confirm 

 this account of Gyllius. " The sea-fish of Constantinople," 

 says M. von Hammer, " are the first in the world. The Bos- 

 phorus swarms with them. This is the reason why we see in 

 the medals of Byzantium, a dolphin accompanied by two 

 other fishes." " How unfortunate it is," very properly ex- 

 claims M. Cuvier, " that of so many Europeans- who pass a 

 part of their lives in that great capital, none should employ 

 himself in determining with precision these numerous species, 

 and informing us of the periods and directions of their pas- 

 sages." 



The tunny fishery was still more ancient in the West. 

 The Phoenicians had established it very early on the coasts of 

 Spain, and prosecuted it with great activity, both without and 

 within the columns of Hercules. Accordingly we find the 

 tunny appear on the Phoenician medals of Cadiz and Carteia. 

 From that period this species of industry was extended 

 and perpetuated along these coasts. The salted preparations 

 of fish of Spain, as well as that of Sardinia, were considered 

 in the time of the Romans as much more tender, and of a 

 more agreeable flavour than those of Byzantium. These pre- 



