THE CORAL-FISHERY. 479 



In those places where the corallines labour near the 

 shore, and at no great depth, the corallum is easily col- 

 lected by the divers; but such localities are few. On the 

 coast of Africa and in the Strait of Messina the fishery 

 is conducted in a very different manner, as the following 

 brief description will show. 



The fishing-boats are mostly of Italian build, and good 

 sailers. The largest, boats of sixteen tons or more, carry 

 a crew of ten to twelve men ; the smallest, of five to six. 

 Their figure-head is always decorated with an image of 

 Christ, the Virgin, or the owner's patron saint. The 

 after part of the boat is reserved for the fishing operations 

 and the stowage of the crew; the fore part is usually 

 appropriated to the padrone, or proprietor. Midships are 

 kept the stores of biscuit and water. The canvas con- 

 sists of a broad lateen sail and a jib or stay sail. The 

 crew is generally collected from Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, 

 or Trapani. 



The apparatus employed in the fishery is technically 

 termed the " engine," and this engine is really a marvel 

 of complex construction, considering the simplicity of its 

 object. 



Let the reader picture to himself a wooden cross of 

 two arms securely lashed or bolted together at the centre, 

 and each arm measuring from six to seven feet in length. 

 This cross is ballasted with a heavy stone or block of 

 lead, and to either arm is suspended a stout rope about 

 thirty feet long. Each rope carries six nets fastened to 

 it at equidistant points ; nets rough and strong, with 

 broad meshes loosely knotted together, and woven of the 

 coarsest rope, about as thick a. a man's finger. By 



(502) 31 



