The Hardest Fighters 263 



officers of the British garrison at Malta, the idea seems un- 

 known, or at least undemonstrated, and there is a profitable 

 field for some of our tackle manufacturers to go there and 

 teach them the trick. 



** When the tunny are expected, nets are put out, watch- 

 men stationed, boats and canneries made ready. A general 

 fiesta is held, and invocations and bribes offered to saints 

 to bring a good season. Motor boats, or launches, have not 

 been introduced yet. The nets are enormous affairs, some cost- 

 ing as much as ten thousand dollars, being miles in length 

 and of varying depth from fifteen to fifty feet. They are 

 placed at strategic points along the coast and serve to guide 

 the fish into the corral net or ' camera di morte,' as it is called. 

 Strange to say, the tunny always turns to the left when 

 meeting these obstructions, and this trait has given rise to 

 the curious idea that it is blind in one eye. At any rate, 

 the openings in the nets are arranged on this principle, and 

 men in a small boat watch to see when a sufficient number 

 have entered, then the entrances are closed and the large 

 boats draw up and haul in the net, spearing, clubbing and 

 gaffing the huge fish who churn the water and drench the 

 men with the bloody spray, as can be imagined by looking 

 at the illustration. Of course the corral net has a bottom 

 and is very strong, to resist not only the tunny, but also 

 the sharks and swordfish that occasionally enter with them. 

 After the slaughter is complete, the nets are replaced, and 

 the loaded boats (two hundred fish are often taken at a haul) 

 go to the canneries on shore, where the tunny is speedily cut 

 up, cooked and canned, and afterwards shipped all over the 

 world. Large capital is invested in the industry, the value 

 of the nets alone running into the millions of francs; and 

 one concern — the Florios — are said to clear two million 

 francs in a good season at their plant near Trapani. 



" For any one wishing to enjoy the sport of taking the 

 tunny with rod and reel, a la Catalina, I offer the following 

 suggestions : Make Palermo your headquarters. It is a de- 



