360 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [72] 
“The method of the harpoon fishery is very different. A watchman 
is employed, who has his station on the cliffs overlooking the water, or 
at the masthead of the feluecca. The mast of the felucca is usually 20 
meters or more in height, and the watchman climbs to his station by 
means of arope ladder. IT'rom his elevated position he scans the sea far 
and near, and when he perceives a Sword-fish gives the signal to a look- 
out, called fariere, foriere, or foliere, standing at the masthead of some 
one of the boats, or lontro, at the station. 
“The watchman indicates the movements of the fish by certain sig- 
nals. For instance, he cries out ‘va susu’, meaning that the fish goes 
yonder, or toward Il Faro; or ‘va jusu’, he goes down, that is, toward 
Messina; or ‘va fora’, he goes out, or toward Levante; or sometimes ‘va 
wterra’, meaning that the fish is swimming toward the shore. 
“The lookout, at first obeying these signals, and then relying on his 
own observation, guides the lontro toward the fish. Wnen the boat has 
approached sufficiently near, the harpooner strikes the fish with his 
draffiniera, or harpoon. 
“The draffiniera consists of a wooden staff 12 feet long, furnished with 
an iron 7 inches in length. The iron has two wings, and is constructed 
in such a manner that when it strikes the fish the point enters the flesh 
and the wings spread in the wound.* <A rope, or protese, often 600 feet 
or more in length, is fastened to the harpoon-head, so that it may be 
recovered when the fish, weakened by loss of blood, is captured and 
brought into the boat. 
‘‘A short warp is tied to the staff of the harpoon, by which when the 
head is detached it is brought back into the boat. After the fish is 
struck, the lontro puts back to the station, leaving the chase and capture 
of the wounded fish to a second. boat. Usually he is easily captured, 
but sometimes by dashing against the boat or by other movements he 
manages to free himself and make his escape. 
“A fishery very similar to that carried on at the present time was de- 
scribed by Polibius, according to Strabo, more than two thousand years 
ago. The account of the fishery at Messina given by Oppiant is some- 
what fanciful and inaccurate, but in the last century Spallanzani gave a 
more strictly technical description of it.t Recently the fishery has been 
accurately descrabed in elegant Latin verse by Vetrioli.§ 
“The following table gives the number of fishermen and boats en. 
gaged in the Sword-fish fishery on the Sicilian and Calabrian coasts: 
1. The harpoon fishery. 
: f , Calabria. Sicily. ° 
Warnrewboats(orteluche)<o- 1). 5.5. 2u5 kee eee ioe monic oon seme 6 52 
Sita beowta (ONG)? otc. <<. zn. vac caeon Teese oeme eee niad hoe Liane "260-52 
Smalishoatsbarche)ecccs sone sccccs ce sees meee eee eee eee 52 
VISHETIMEN bs cose ets oe isos Se oe eee RAR eee ee ce ee eye oy Baa 275 384 
* This iron resembles closely the American lily-iron. 
t Oppiano, Della Pesca, lib. iii. 
{Spallanzani, Viaggi alle due Sicilie ecc. vol. iv, p. 308, et seq. 
§ Vetrioli, Xyphias Carmen, Naples, 1870. \ 
