28 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



flamingoes. They are tamer than at Cagliari, where 

 they are continually hunted. The natives never 

 shoot snipe, as they dislike getting wet, and also are 

 unable to hit them. 



The fishery is situated on three streams, which con- 

 verge and flow from a lake into the sea. A mediaeval 

 tower has been converted into a dwelling, and around 

 it are the reed fish traps. Barriers of upright reeds, 

 with half-inch intervals, have been erected in various 

 positions, having doors, and suited to the varying 

 depth of water in the stream, the Tirse (which is one 

 of the largest Sardinian rivers), the water here being 

 brackish. The fish, as they descend, are admitted 

 through Y-shaped openings in the fence, placed at in- 

 tervals of ten feet, into large compartments, that are 

 capable of being closed when there are enough fish in- 

 side. The depth varies from 1 foot to 4 feet. In these 

 compartments the fish are either speared or netted by 

 fishermen wading in naked, or else are driven into a 

 smaller enclosure called the death-room (camera del 

 morte), whence they are extracted by hand or scoop 

 nets. There are yet smaller chambers than the camera 

 del morte, used when, owing to floods, there are but 

 few fish, about a yard square and with the usual funnel 

 to admit the fish, out of one of which I saw scooped 

 crabs (some edible), sardines, eels, soles, large prawns, 

 and a fish like the carp called lupo. Over each barrier 

 is a reed house for the guard or watcher. The sardines 

 fresh from the water resemble young herring. The 

 Cabras boats are quite peculiar, and resemble a shoe 



