104 SUPPOSED MIGRATIONS OF THE TUNNY. 



From a very early time, tunny-fishing has been a source 

 of wealth to the riverine peoples of the Mediterranean. It 

 was esteemed so important in its influence on the national 

 interests, that the Greeks, before embarking in it, endea- 

 voured to secure the good- will of their deities. They 

 offered a tunny as a sacrifice to Neptune, imploring him to 

 preserve them from the disastrous "joint-stock operations" 

 of the sword-fish ; and if the expedition proved success- 

 ful, they renewed the sacrifice as a token of their grati- 

 tude. It must be admitted, however, that a couple of 

 fishes was hardly enough to bribe the favour of Poseidon. 



Naturalists formerly believed in the migrations of the 

 tunny, as they did of the herring. It was asserted that 

 the shoals which teem in the Mediterranean entered its 

 waters in the spring season through the Strait of Gib- 

 raltar; that then they divided into two great bodies, one 

 of which followed the coast-line of Africa, and ascended 

 as far as the Bosphorus the other skirting the shores of 

 Spain, France, and North-western Italy, passing between 

 the islands of Elba and Corsica, and halting in the waters 

 of Sardinia to deposit their spawn. 



These migrations, however, were absolutely imaginary. 

 It is now known that the tunny always inhabits the 

 same region, simply changing its position according to 

 the season of the year now advancing towards the 

 coast, and now retiring into deep water. 



The ancients resorted to various devices for the capture 

 of this famous fish. One way, and a very direct one, 

 was, according to Aristotle, to spear it as it basked, like 

 a pike, on the sunny surface of the waves. Another, 

 which Oppian describes as practised by the Thracians, 



