240 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



principle of the trammel is more ingenious perhaps 

 than that of any other net used in fishing. It 

 consists of three nets, two outer with very large 

 meshes, and an inside one, double their length and 

 height, and with a very small mesh. A fish strikes 

 one of the outer nets and passes through it, only 

 to encounter the long net, which it pushes before 

 it, being unable to go through so small a mesh, 

 through the corresponding large hole in the third. 

 Making a dash for freedom, it shuts itself inex- 

 tricably in a blind pocket, and there it remains 

 until the net is visited next morning, for, unlike 

 the trawl or drift-net, the trammel has the great 

 advantage of catching fish while its owner is 

 comfortable in bed. Down went the trammels 

 each evening, and up they came in the morning, 

 yielding good measure and some variety. The 

 bag included dogfish (Mustelus] with living young, 

 many of the embryos being very advanced, wrasse 

 of large size, becudas (Sphyrczna\ powerful sea- 

 pike these last, which at times give good sport on 

 whiffing tackle, whiprays, red mullet and grey, 

 both of large size, and a crayfish without claws, 

 much esteemed as the nearest approach to a 

 lobster which those islands produce. 



One of the most amusing petites peches was 

 from the rocks at sunset for sargo, a game, silvery 

 bream with black stripes, which grows in those 

 waters to rather more than a pound weight, or 



