ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 143 
“The Palamitara is set from time to time, and at each station 
is fitted up in the manner deemed most suitable by the fishermen. 
It is made of strong hemp twine, and is hung to two ropes, the 
upper being buoyed by cork floats, and the lower weighted with 
leads. The length of the net varies between six hundred and 
eight hundred meters, the breadth is sixteen meters, and the area 
14,000 to 15,000 meters, more or less, according to the depth of 
water, which on these coasts varies between forty and six hun- 
dred meters; the mesh measures about seventeen centimeters 
far. Each end of the upper rope is tied to a large cork buoy, to 
which a bell is attached, which sounds with every motion 
of the net. : 
“ By these arrangements the net has sufficient play, so that it 
is not liable to injury by the sea. At the same time, when a fish 
Strikes the net and is gilled, the more it struggles to get free the 
more it gets entangled. Inthe meantime the ringing of the bell 
gives the fishermen the signal that a fish is captured, and they 
hasten to free the net and set it again. 
“The methods of thé harpoon fishery are very different. Two 
watchmen are employed, one having his station on the cliffs 
overlooking the water, and the other at the masthead of the fel- 
ucca. The mast of the felucca is usually twenty or more meters 
in height, and the watchman climbs to his station by means of a 
rope ladder. The watchman on the cliffs scans the sea far-and 
near, and when he perceives a swordfish gives the signal to a 
lookout, called fariere, foriere, or foliere, standing at the mast- 
head of some one of the boats, or /owtro, at the Stakion.: = , 
“The watchman indicates the. movements of the fish by cer- 
tain signals. For instance, he cries out ‘va susu,’ meaning that 
the fish goes yonder, or toward I] Faro; or ‘va jusu, he goes 
down, that is, toward Messina ; or ‘va forra, he goes out, or to- 
ward Levante ; or sometimes ‘va w’terra, meaning that the fish 
is swimming toward the shore. Sra el , . 
“ The-lookout, at first obeying these-signals, and. then relying 
on his own observations, guides the douvtro toward the fish. When 
the boat has approached sufficiently near, the harpooner strikes 
the fish with his drafiniera, or harpoon. 
“The drafiniera consists of a wooden staff twelve feet long, 
