108 THE MADRAGUE DESCRIBED. 



and always available for use. By means of nets deeply 

 sunken with heavy stones, a number of compartments or 

 chambers is constructed in the sea, and connected with 

 the shore by a long broad avenue, of a quarter to half a 

 mile in length, formed by the shore on one side and a 

 parallel line of nets on the other. The fish unwittingly 

 sailing along this avenue find themselves " brought up " 

 at the extremity of a barrier of mesh-work. They turn 

 to the left, or right, as the case may be, and pass into 

 the first chamber ; from this, as their numbers increase, 

 they are necessarily forced through its single opening 

 into a second enclosure ; and so, on and on they find 

 themselves compelled to move, until at the end of the 

 labyrinth they plunge into what is called the " chamber 

 of death " (camera della morte), a compartment with a 

 meshed bottom, which, like the mezzanine floor of a 

 theatre, can be raised at will, and when it is raised brings 

 with it to the surface a host of unfortunate victims. In 

 vain do they seek to escape from the indiscriminate 

 massacre ; they perish by hundreds. 



From the reports of independent observers, we gather 

 that there is something singularly exciting in witnessing 

 the wholesale capture of a herd of these great black fish ; 

 more particularly as the Provencals and Neapolitans re- 

 gard the occasion as a festival, and come out in their gay- 

 est attire and with their brightest looks ; while musicians 

 always attend, and mingle their merry strains with the 

 shouts of the eager fishermen and the applause of the im- 

 pulsive spectators. The following minute description of a 

 day's tunny-fishing may, therefore, interest the reader : 



* Quatrefages, "Journal of a Naturalist;" Badham, " Ancient and Modern 

 Fish-Tattle." See also Lace"pSde. 



