2 ANCHOVY FISHERIES. 



Sicily, the island of Elba, Corsica, Cannes, Martigues, 

 &c. The season is from April to July ; the times, very 

 dark nii^hts when there is no moon. The fishinc^-boats 



o o 



carry torches (rather a poaching proceeding by the way), 

 and when the anchovies are assembled (attracted by the 

 light) the fishermen surround the shoal with small- 

 meshed nets, splash the water and make as much noise 

 as possible, and the fish in their terror *'gill" them- 

 selves in the net. 



I have discovered that there formerly existed, and 

 possibly may now exist, in London establishments 

 where whitebait; are converted into anchovy j)aste and 

 anchovy sauce. 



In November, 1871, Mr. Matthias Dunn, of Meva- 

 gissey, Cornwall, reported to me that the seines, set in 

 Mevagissey Bay for pilchards, caught an enormous 

 number of anchovies, estimated at 150,000. *' As they 

 could not be utilised, they were carted away as manure 

 to the fields^ for nobody seemed to know how to cure 

 them." 



Mr. Dunn writes, "It is seldom anchovies come so 

 close in shore as these did, though countless quantities 

 of them hang on to our coast from September till 

 February, and in some dark nights give a beautiful 

 phosphorescent light to the depths of the ocean." This 

 letter of Mr. Dunn's led to a very interesting corres- 

 pondence in La72d and Water, vol. xvi., from which it 

 appears that this is an industry that is quite worth a 

 capitalist taking up, as Dutch anchovies are worth 56s. 

 a barrel of B31bs., and a double barrel of Gorgona 

 anchovies of 201bs. is worth 20s. In fact, the difficulty 

 was solved in August, 1873, by my secretary, Mr. Searle, 

 who writes: "I requested a friend, the proprietor of 

 the 'Oriental Sauce,' to try his hand at the manufacture 



