THE COASTS OF SICILY. 255 



another fish has been hurled across the beam ; the 

 dead and the dying lie heaped together in such vast 

 multitudes, that the hulls of the boats are almost 

 hidden beneath the load of their half-living cargoes. 



After two hours of carnage symptoms of exhaus- 

 tion begin to appear, the tunnies come but rarely 

 to the surface, and at length their enemies begin to 

 lose patience. A boat is then loosened from either 

 side of the enclosure, and the two principal barks 

 are brought within half their former distance of one 

 another. The capstans are now again brought into 

 play, the impatient fishermen all lend a hand, and 

 now the hooks are inserted in the meshes of the net ; 

 but these efforts, which are somewhat irregular, do 

 not at first produce any great results. Soon, how- 

 ever, the master-fisherman's whistle is heard: at 

 once the men break into a song of measured rhythm, 

 their movements become more regular, and pulling 

 in unison with the words which they sing, the net is 

 made to rise higher and higher. Soon it is almost 

 on a level with the surface of the water, and now it 

 is time to resume the labour in good earnest. The 

 master-fisherman's boat now, for the first time, takes 

 an active part in the labours of the day. Its crew 

 of picked men pursue the tunnies within the narrow 

 limits to which they are now circumscribed, and, 

 striking them with long harpoons, urge them forward 

 against the hooks which are projected from the 

 boats, and which speedily secure them. 



I must confess that this spectacle, which we had 

 so anxiously desired to witness, left us melancholy 

 and discontented, for we had been most painfully 



