Class IV. S W O R D F I S H. 161 



The antient method of taking them is particu- Captv**. 

 larly defcribed by Strabo*, and agrees exactly 

 with that pnacYifed by the moderns. 



A man afcends one of the cliffs that overhangs 

 the fea: as foon as he fpies the fifh, he gives 

 notice either by his voice, or by figns, of the courfe 

 it takes. Another, that is Rationed in a boar, 

 climbs up the maft, and on feeing the fword fifh, 

 directs the rowers towards it. As foon as he thinks 

 they are got within reach, he defcends, and tak- 

 ing a fpear in his hand, flrikes it into the fifh, 

 which, after wearying itfelf with its agitation, is 

 feized and drawn into the boat. It is much efleem- 

 ed by the Sicilians, who buy it up eagerly, and at 

 its firft coming into feafon give about fix-pence 

 Englijh per pound. . The feafon lafts from May till 

 Auguft\. The antients ufed to cut this fifh into 

 pieces, and fait it, whence it was called Tomus 

 Thurianus J, from Thurii, a town in the bay of Ta- 

 rentum, where it was taken and cured, 



Kircher, in his Mufurgia, has preferved a ftrange 

 incantation ufed by the Sicilian fifhermen, at the 

 capture of the Pefce Spada, as they call it, which 

 is exprefifed in the following unintelligible jargon : 



* LiL I. /. 16. 



f Ray's Travels, I. 27 J. 



J Tomus Thurianus, quern alii Xiphiam <vocant. PHnii lib* 

 XXXII. r. j i. 



Vol, III. M Mamafli* 



