PRODUCE OF FISH-HARVEST. 237 



other sorts of fish, grilled or roasted on the spit ; the en- 

 joyment being heightened by the wine of Bosco-Eliseo. 



M. Coste notices a peculiarity which ought to be 

 known by those engaged in fisheries. The migratory 

 progress of the eels is instantly stopped by the rising of 

 the moon. Their repugnance to move during moon- 

 light, which does not arrest other kinds of fish, has 

 taught the fishermen to use a device in order not to be 

 incommoded by their excessive numbers. When they 

 wish no more of them for the time, they light fires on 

 both sides, and the creatures stop : these are extin- 

 guished as soon as the chambers are emptied, and the 

 migration is resumed till daylight. 



This harvest lasts for three or four months, and some 

 idea of its amount may be formed when we state that, 

 from 1798 to 1813, the average annual weight of the 

 fish was more than 1,935,120 lb.; from 1813 to 1825 

 the average was about 1,612,600 lb. But in 1825 the 

 mortality among the fish was so great, in consequence 

 of an accident, that the produce of the fishery fell to 

 about 645,080 lb., and for the eight subsequent years 

 this was the average. Setting out from 1833, and in 

 spite of three successive accidents which occasioned 

 the death of fish weighing more than 9,676,600 lb., the 

 produce remounts towards its former level, but at pre- 

 sent the average does not exceed about 967,560 lb. 

 And yet these enormous figures are believed to repre- 

 sent only one-half of the actual captures, so great is the 

 loss sustained owing to the impossibility of efficiently 

 watching so large a body of water. The actual produce 

 may therefore be estimated at 3,970,240 lb. And that 

 this estimate is not exaggerated is proved by the 

 astounding fact, that in a single day the mortality 

 among the fish is sometimes so great as to bring to the 

 surface a greater weight than this of dead fish. M. 

 Coste adduces, as his authority for this statement, M. 

 Ducati, who saw them buried. 



The causes of these disasters are sometimes excessive 



