A FORLORN QUEST, ETC. 251 



range, as caught for market, from 60 to 100 Ibs., 

 and the latter from 40 to 70 Ibs. ; and anyone 

 persevering with these, during, say, the dull, still 

 June weather, should be rewarded with sport. 

 Cossart vowed vengeance on some of these smaller 

 fish in the near future, and A. K. M. left him his 

 tarpon-reel wherewith to wreak it. 



The chief difficulty, apart from weather, which 

 I anticipate in connection with the sport at Fun- 

 chal, will lie in the uncertain movements of the 

 shoals. It is true that the Union Castle boats link 

 Southampton and Madeira so closely that anyone 

 in readiness could, if there were accommodation 

 available, receive a wire in town on Saturday 

 morning and be fishing for tunny on the following 

 Wednesday. By that time, however, the fish 

 might have gone to Porto Santo, and a further 

 journey of 40 miles, on]y perhaps to be sold as we 

 were, would not command enthusiasm, even 

 though it might deserve it. Nor is the weather, 

 at any rate in early spring, much less capricious 

 than the tunny. Always beautiful on land, save 

 when disappointed tourists ride to the rocks that 

 overhang what should be the Curral, and look out 

 on rolling seas of fog, it is subject to sudden gusts 

 of wind, which, while merely refreshing to the 

 landsman, soon make fishing from small boats 

 uncomfortable, if not altogether impossible. 



For these reasons I fancy that the tunny fishing 



