204 PEOSE HAI;IETJTICS. 



of one stall, now cleaving some large fish in twain, now 

 chopping a yet larger into slices, which fall rapidly under 

 the strokes of a ponderous cleaver at his side ; 



Tpixdd re icai TCTpaxBa 8iaTpv<j>€V e'/cTTf (re x^'P"*- 



' Trenta sei ! trenta sei !^ repeat two journeymen accom- 

 plices, counting it at the same time on their fingers to 

 secure accuracy, as they telegraph the information to 

 distant customers, who cannot hear for the hubbub. One 

 holds up a specimen slice of his wares, whilst he shouts 

 ' guardi ! guardi !^ with the voice of a Porto or Lablache; 

 whilst others are roaring ' tutti vivi ! tutti vivi ! ' Here 

 you are invited to buy ' a sedici ' [subaudi grani), there, 

 at lower price, but not in lower accents, ' a dieci ! ' here, 

 one beUows, ' sardioi e alice ! ' another there, shouts 

 ' mendole e merluzzi ! ' while a third, under the name 

 of 'fichi ! fichi !' roars forth some marine delicacy both 

 fresh and fragrant. Just as you approach each stall the 

 bellowing salesman suspends his voice for a moment to 

 inquire, in muffled thxmder, whether your ' eccellenza' 

 wants to buy; but on observing that you shake your 

 head or walk by, instantly — lUie some shrill cicada, fit- 

 fully silent while a traveller passes under his tree — the 

 loud-tongued Sicilian resumes his deafeniag importunity. 

 The thunny enjoys a far higher reputation abroad than 

 we, accustomed to so many much better fish at home, 

 are willing to accord it ; but before discussing the merits 

 of this scomber at table, it is but fair to say that the 

 flesh of no species varies so much, according to its ao-e, 

 as this. Very young thunny form a deUeate frittura^ 

 with none of the characteristic bad flavour of the older 

 fish ; a thunny weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, 

 and measuring from three and a half to four feet long, is 

 neither coarse nor rank: much beyond that period' of 

 development, however, the increment of size and weight 

 is attended with a sensible deterioration in quality. 



