OSSEOUS FISHES. 597 



months of March to July, and a second again from July to October. 

 But at other points of the coast they arrive at the same time from 

 very different directions ; nevertheless, in some places they are only 

 winter visitors. 



The tunny-fishing goes back to the remotest antiquity. The 

 Phoenicians, the first navigators known, carried it on on the coast of 

 Spain. In our days the fishing is carried on with great activity on 

 the coasts of Provence, of Sardinia, and Sicily. 



The fishing is generally carried on by the tunny-net, but in 

 Provence it is fished with an enclosed net called the madrague. 



The tunny-net consists of a combination of nets, which is quickly 

 cast into the sea in order to head the tunnies at the moment of their 

 passage. When the sentinels, posted for the purpose, as in the pil- 

 chard fishery, have signalled the approach of a shoal of tunnies and 

 its direction, by the indications of a flag which points to the spot 

 occupied by the finny tribe, the fishing-boats are immediately directed 

 to the designated spot, and ranged in curved lines, forming with 

 the light floating net a half circular enclosure, turned towards the 

 shore, the interior of which is called the garden. The tunnies thus 

 enclosed in this garden, between the coast and the net, become agitated 

 with terror. As they advance towards the shore they press upon the 

 enclosure, or rather a new interior enclosure is formed with other nets 

 held in reserve. In this second enclosure an opening is left, through 

 which the tunnies have to pass. In continuing thus to diminish the 

 space by successive enclosures, each occupies a smaller diameter, in 

 which the fish are enclosed in about a fathom and a half of water. At 

 this moment a species of seine-net is thrown into the garden. This net 

 is hauled into shallow water by force of arms, and the small tunnies 

 are taken by the hand, the larger by hooks. The boats are charged 

 with them, and they are carried ashore. A single day's fishing will 

 sometimes produce as many as sixteen thousand tunnies, each from 

 twenty to five and twenty pounds weight. 



When the park,- in place of being established for a single fishery, 

 is a permanent construction in the sea, it is called, in Provence, a 

 madrague. The madrague is a vast enclosure. The netting which 

 forms the partitions of its chambers are sustained by buoys of cork on 

 the surface, and kept down by heavy stones and other weights on the 

 lower edge, and maintained in this position by cords, one extremity 



