204 TOILERS IN THE SEA. 



Some years ago, a writer in the Athenaum 

 gave a graphic account of the coral fishery, as 

 pursued in the Mediterranean, from which the fol- 

 lowing paragraph may be read with interest. It 

 contains chiefly the mode in which this fishery, 

 as an industry, is conducted, or at least as it was 

 pursued when this account was written. 



Torre is the principal port in the south of 

 Italy for the vessels engaged in the coral fishery, 

 about two hundred vessels setting out from 

 hence every year, about June. They have generally 

 a tonnage of from seven to fourteen tons, and 

 carry from eight to twelve hands ; so that about 

 two thousand men are engaged in this trade, 

 and, in case of an emergency, would form a 

 famous corps de reserve. They generally consist 

 of the young, and hardy, and adventurous, or else 

 the wretchedly poor, for it is only the bold spirit 

 of youth, or the extreme misery of the married 

 man, which would send them forth upon this 

 service. For two or three months previously to the 

 commencement of the season, many a wretched 

 mariner leaves his starving family, and, as a last 

 resource, sells himself to the proprietor of one 

 or another of these barks, receiving a caparra 

 (earnest money), with which he returns to his 

 home. This, perhaps, is soon dissipated, and he 

 again returns, and receives an addition to his 



