Ghiaivi SiWO'R D (Fu Sit 127 
The antient method of taking them is particu- capture. 
larly defcribed by Strabo*, and agrees exactly with 
that practifed by the moderns. 
A man afcends one of the cliffs that overhangs 
the fea: as foon as he fpies the fifh, he gives notice 
either by his voice or by figns of the courfe it takes. 
Another, that is ftationed in a boat, climbs up the 
maft, and on feeing the {word fifh, direéts the row- 
ers towards it. As foon as he thinks they are got 
within reach, he defcends, and taking a fpear in his 
hand, ftrikes it into the fifh, which, after wearying 
itfelf with its agitation, is feized and drawn into the - 
boat. It is much efteemed by the Sicilians, who buy 
it up eagerly, and at its firft coming into feafon give 
about fix-pence Exgli/h per pound. The feafon lafts 
from May till Auguft**. ‘The antients ufed to cut 
this fifh into pieces, and falt it, whence it was called 
Tomus Thurianus +, from Thurii, a town in the bay 
of Tarentum, where it was taken and cured. 
Kircher, in his Mufurgia, has preferved a ftrange 
incantation ufed by the Sicilian fifhermen, at the 
capture of the Pe/ce Spada, as they call it, which is 
expreffed in the following unintelligible jargon: 
Mamaffu di pajanu, 
Paletta di pajanu, 
Majufiu di ftignela, 
Palettu di paenu pale, 
Pale la ftagnetta, 
Mancuta {tigneta. 
Pro naftu, vardu, preflu da 
Vifu & da terra. 
bie. le ps 10. 
*° Ray’s Travels, I. 271. 
+ Tomus Thurianus, quem ahi Xiphiam vocant. Plinii 48, 
XXXi. ¢. 11. 
