140 FISH—CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
broader at the stern than at the bow. There isa single mast, 
seventeen feet high, surmounted by a brace of a curved form, 
intended to support the lookout, who gains access to it by steps 
fastened to the mast. The lookout from this elevated station 
views the movements of the fish, and by voice or gesture directs 
the movements of the oarsmen. At the proper time he descends, 
and standing on a narrow thwart amidships he aids the waist 
oarsmen and performs the office of steersman. 
At the bow stands the man who strikes the fish. His lance is 
about twelve feet long, with an iron head, which, from the vague 
description of Meunier, appears to resemble closely the American 
lily-iron. This is detachable, and to it is fastened a line as thick 
as one’s little finger and six hundred feet long (two hundred 
meters). 
Two guards are also stationed on the shore. On the Cala- 
brian coast they climb upon high rocks and cliffs; on the op- 
posite shore, where there are none, they stand on a tower, built 
expressly for this purpose, about eight hundred feet in height. | 
“Everything being arranged,” says Spallanzani, “behold the 
order of the fishery. When the two watchmen perched upon the 
tops of the rocks or of the mast judge that a swordfish approaches 
from afar, by the change in the color of the water, at the surface 
of which he swims, they signal with the hand to the fishermen, 
who row toward it with their boats, and they do not cease to cry 
out and to make signs until the other lookout onthe mast of the 
boat has perceived the fish and follows it with his eye. At the 
voice of the latter the boat veers now to the right, now to the 
left, until the lancer, standing at the bow, weapon in hand, 
catches sight of the fish, Now the lookout descends from his 
mast, stations himself among the oarsmen, and directs their 
movements in accordance with signals given him by the lancer ; 
he seizing a favorable opportunity, strikes the fish, often at the 
distance of ten feet. Immediately he slackens out the rope, 
which he holds in his hands, while the boat, with the force of all 
its oars, follows the wounded fish until he has expended all his 
strength. Then he rises to the surface; the fishermen, approach- 
ing, fasten to him with an iron hook and carry him to the shore. 
Sometimes the fish, furious from his wound, strikes the boat and 
