THE TUNNY. 355 
body, the vertex being in front. Like the herrings and the cod, 
they move through the Mediterranean waters in large shoals, and 
at stated periods. At one time of the year they are going west, 
at another east. Although the Mediterranean is the chief resi- 
dence of the tribe, yet they are found in the ocean. 
Various means are employed for their capture. The Basque 
fishermen use the grand couple, which is a huge line, carrying 
hundreds of baits; this is attached to a boat manned by eight 
or ten men. The fishers of Provence enclose the tunnies in nets 
some miles long. These are cast in a long line, and gradually 
their extremities are brought together; the enclosure is then 
dragged to the shore, a purse net is attached, into which the 
tunnies rush, and are thus secured. But the most curious mode 
of taking these fish is by the madrague, or as the Americans 
term it, “the pig catcher.” 
The madrague is a vast enclosure of net walls permanently 
fixed in the sea, cork floats support the upper edge, lines attached 
to heavy stones resting on the bottom, anchor the lower side of 
the net. The nets are arranged so as to form a kind of labyrinth 
leading into a chamber at the further extremity of the structure. 
A straight net is run to the shore, the tunnies swimming against 
it, and not being able to pass—for they invariably swim near the 
surface—run along the net wall until they reach the enclosure, 
which they enter; they are soon entangled in the labyrinths and 
unable to find their way to the open sea. The enclosure is so 
constructed, that by following the outer wall at length, the chambre 
de mort is reached ; this has a net for a floor, so that it is impossible 
for the fish to escape even by diving. Here the doomed tunnies 
may remain for even weeks. When the fishers arrive to secure 
their prize, they raise the floor of the prison, and as the captives 
are brought to the surface of the water, there ensues a scene which 
defies description. A yawl has been allowed to pass the nets 
and floats in the chamber of death. As soon as the tunnies reach 
the surface and find themselves close to the boat, terrified out of 
their lives, they bound and leap with violent desperation ; but the 
boatmen with unerring aim transfix them with harpoons, others 
are felled with the blows of poles, and bleeding fall back into the 
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