FISHING HARVEST. 235 



pound, whereas, when introduced into the lagoon, it 

 required about 6000 of them to make a pound ; so that 

 1 Ib. of mullet-fry is in twelve months transformed into 

 alimentary substance weighing above 1500 Ib. M. 

 Coste truly observes that " agriculture produces no such 

 enormous and inexpensive harvests : its products are 

 obtained at great expense ; those of pisciculture, on the 

 contrary, are developed without the necessity of having 

 recourse to those costly methods which absorb the 

 greater part of the revenue." 



This naturally leads us to the description of the fish- 

 ing harvest at Comacchio the great event of the year, 

 and the commencement of which is celebrated by a re- 

 ligious solemnity, as other States open those assemblies 

 which preside over their political destinies. The fisher- 

 men, prostrate in their chapels, implore the divine bless- 

 ing on their labours by addressing their prayers to St 

 Gratian, the patron of the colony; and when their har- 

 vest-fields have been blessed by the officiating priest, 

 they proceed to open the sluices which admit the waters 

 of the Adriatic into the lagoon, all the outlets from 

 which are now provided with labyrinths. This acces- 

 sion of fresh water in every part excites everywhere the 

 migratory instinct ; and the fish reascend those currents 

 which lead to the Adriatic, but are obliged to follow a 

 course leading to the labyrinths. They pass through 

 all the windings till they arrive at the last compart- 

 ments, where they sometimes accumulate in such num- 

 bers as to fill them to the brim. 



Dark rainy nights, when the cold north wind raises 

 the waves of the sea and the lagoon, are the most 

 favourable for these operations, and are looked for by the 

 fishermen as anxiously as the agriculturist looks for the 

 sun which is to ripen the fruits of the earth. u They 

 doubtless regard the tumults of nature as a manifesta- 

 tion of the highest harmony, which they term order : 

 and when the storm is unroofing their houses, they cry 



