MACKAREL. 71 



in their widely-extended excursions. In some parts of the 

 Mediterranean they are described as being always small and 

 dry; and such appears to have been the case in ancient times 

 at Home, where, in their fresh condition, they were disregarded. 

 As they were sold by fishmongers wrapped up in paper which 

 was fit for no other use, a sarcasm was directed against 

 inferior poets, that their works would be applied to the use 

 of wrapping up Mackarel. Risso, on the other hand, praises 

 the Mackarel taken at Nice for its superiority of size and 

 flavour; but we believe that in no district will any be found 

 to excel, and few to equal those which visit the west coasts of 

 the British Empire. 



The number of boats engaged in this early fishery is 

 uncertain, but about two hundred have been known to assemble 

 at Plymouth at one time, and upwards of that number belong 

 to Cornwall alone. They are manned by from five to eight 

 men in each; and the string of nets is formed of several por- 

 tions that are capable of being taken asunder; and an ordinary 

 boat will be supplied with fifty of these nets, of which each 

 shall measure twenty-two fathoms as prepared for fishing, so 

 that when shot or cast from the boat they may reach to the 

 extent of a mile and three quarters. The size of the mesh is 

 calculated to spread twenty-six to a yard, and in the usual 

 depth of about three fathoms there are expected to be one 

 hundred and twenty meshes. They are made to swim by corks 

 which are set along the head-rope, the weight of the net itself 

 being sufficient to cause them to sink to the proper depth; and 

 in this condition they are cast across the expected course of 

 the fish, while by a rope or hauser passing to the bow of the 

 boat, they are kept stretched out, without the risk of being folded 

 together by the influence of the wind or tide. They are thus 

 shot or cast into the sea as the evening comes on, and again 

 lifted in after two or three hours, and to ease the labour of 

 this last fatiguing work, which is doubly difficult when the 

 nets are loaded with fish, a capstan is employed, each division 

 of the net being separated and stowed away as it is drawn into 

 the boat. Another cast of the nets is usual toward the 

 morning; for it is found by experience that, for fishes in 

 general, the most successful time for their entering into a net 

 is about the passage from day to night, or the reverse. It 



