/ 
Chap. IV. through Spain. 
them for the Improvement of others as well as his own Sa- The Opinion of the Ancients was ciearly tnat it w^s 
lisfadion If the fhort Time that he fpent in his Paf- a Plant, bat this Notion was afterwards queftioned bf 
fao-e throuc^h this .Kingdom, did not allow him to feveral very learned and great Men ; but at this Time ot 
fearch into°and after every Thing, in as diligent a Day, when Opinions in Matters of this Kind ade not fd 
Manner and with as much ExaClnefs as lie deflred •, much regarded, we are facisfied from Variety or Experi- 
vet it mull be allowed, that he has given us a very ju^ ments, that the old Notion is a Matter of Fad, that it is 
‘dicious and accurate Account of all that he faw, fo as really a Plant which is petrified, dr render’d hard by the 
to afford a true, if not a plcafing Pidlure of Spain and Sea-water, that it produces Fiovvers which afe adualiy 
its Inhabitants, at the Time he vifited them j the Read- vifible ; that in the Flowers there are^ feed, though en- 
incr of which will enable us to form a very juft Notion tangled in fuch a Manner in a thick clamriiy white 
oAhe Places and the People, which is the great End Juice as not to be difcerned. It does nor grow either 
of Travelling, and the higheft Advantage that can re- at the Bottom of the Sea, as Kircher thought, or on the 
fult from the Perufal of Books of this Kind. I have Sides of Rocks, as our Author and moft learned Men 
met with a Copy of thefe Travels, which formerly be- have believed, but at the Top of Rocky Caverns, (hoot- 
longed to Sir Philip Skippon ; and in which there are ing diredly towards the Center of the Earth, It is nor 
contained fome Explanations and Additions, which ate true that it has any Root, for it is fixed to the Rock by 
here taken in, and confequently render thefe Travels a thin fmall Plate, and never fpreads itfdf by darting 
more curious and valuable. The Neceffity of keeping Fibres upwards, but grows by attraaing .its proper Nou- 
within Bounds, renders it improper to extend this Intro- rifliment from the Sea-water, though its Pores, whicu 
dudion farther, and therefore we will now proceed are vifible enough, its Seed are carried by the Waves 
without Ceremony to the Travels themfelves. and the thick glutinous Liquor in which it is contained, 
2. AUguft 1664. We left in the County kicking to the Rock, affords thereby the Means of 
of Roufillon^ being the laft Town belonging to the growing, but the Strudure of it is fuch, that it cannot 
French, and’at about three Fourth’s of a League’s Di- grow but vertically in the Manner before-mentioned, 
ftance came to a great Stone ereded here for a Boun- The principal Coral Fifheries are thblL in the P erjiait 
dary between France and Spain, and pafling very bad Gulph, in the Red- Sea, in the Sicilian and Pi eapolitan 
W^y among dblolate IMountains, after many Hour’s Seas, upon the Coaft oi Africa, upon the Coafts of Md- 
riding, we came to Lanfa, the fifft Town of the King norca, Corfica, and Provence ; but it is agreed that no 
of Spain"’?, Country. All along thefe Mountains grow Place yields either better, brighter, or greater Plenty 
Rofemary, common Furze or Gorfe, and Agnus caflus of Coral, than at Cape ^uiers in Catalonia, which is 
of two Sorts, the one with a carneous, the other with the very Place our Author fpeaks of ; The Time in 
a blue Flower. From Lanfa we went on the fame Day which they fifti for it, is from the Beginning of April toi 
as far as Cande Creux, five Leagues or twenty Englijh the End of July. The beft Account we have of any Coral 
Miles from Bagnbh. -Among thefe Mountains we met Fifhery, is that managed hy 2. French Company, at a Place 
with no Brooks, and fcarce any Water. Sept. i. We called the Bafion of France, on the Coaft of Africa ; 
intended to have feen the Coral Fiftiing here ; but the and as Experience has taught all that are concerned in 
windy Weather hinder’d us. The Sea muft be very this Trade, to purftie it in the fame Manner, or at leaft 
calm and fmooth, elfe it is impoftible for them to fifli very nearly in the fame Manner, one Defcription will 
for it. It grows downwards (as the Urinators told us) ferve as well as many. When we fay that thefe are the 
under the hollow Rocks, and not upwards as Trees, principal Coral Fifiieries, we do not mean that there 
I believe rather, that it grows indifferently, either up- may not be others ; for we knov/ there are both in the 
wards or dov/nwards, according to the Situation of the Eajl Indies and the Wejt, but they are Imall and incon- 
Rocks. The Engine they make Ufe of for getting fiderable in Comparifon of thofe that we have men- 
Coral is, a great Crofs of Wood with a confiderable tioned, in Refpeift as well to the Coral which is ga« 
Weight of Lead faften’d at the Center, to which alfo thered, as to the Quantities that are gathered ; and 
a ftrong Rope is fixed, and at each Corner there are perhaps it might be worth while to confider, why Co- 
ftout Nets made of fmall Cord : They go out in little raJ grows plentifully iri fome Seas, rarely in others, and 
Boats, and let down this Crofs ^ and when they have in riiany not at all. But at prefent let us fpeak of the 
found a Rock at the Bottom of the Sea, he that ma- Manner in which this Commerce is carried on. 
uages the Rope, thrufts it into the Hollows, getting in The Coral Fifliers, or as our Author calls them, 
one or two of the Corners j and if there be any Coral, it Urinators, come a little before the Seafon begins, to 
entangles in the Nets at the End of the Crofs, by which the Bajiion of France, without either Tackle or Tools, 
it is torn off and brought up. The natural Colour of without Veftels, and without Money. The firft Thing 
the Coral, while it is alive and growing to the Rocks, they dods to feparate into Crews. The Crew of a Coral 
is a pale carneous *, but when the Scurf (which anfwers Fifliing-boat may confift of feven, but it is generally 
to the Bark on Trees) is rubbed off, it is red. The compofed of eight. The Patron, or Maker of the 
Coral, that dies or is broken off from the Rocks, Boat, the Alan that throws the Crofs, and fix Seamen 
loofes chat carneous Scurf or Bark in the Sea, and be- that manage the Boat and alTift in dragging the Ma- 
comes red, though fomecimes it gets a greenifh white chine aboard. Upon applying to the Company, they 
Ruft. They fay it is fifty Years before it comes to its are furnifhed with a proper Vefifel, which the French 
full Growth; but that, I conceive, is an ungrounded Satteau, that is a .Jong fharp Boat with very large 
Conjeefture ; they fometimes, but very rarely, find Sails, fo that they go at a great Rate, and are not eafily 
Branches of tht;ee or four Pounds Weight. It rots, dies, taken. They are likewife furniftied with all Kind of 
grows light. Worm-eaten, and full of Holes like Tackle and Provifions upon Credit. Then they enter 
Wood. They all affirmed it to be hard and not fofr, into Articles for the Price of the Cora), which is ge- 
as it grows under Water, contrary to the current Tra- nerally fixed at a French Cro^h a Pound, or thereabouts, 
dition of the Ancients, Mollis fuit herba fub undis. I They likewife engage to fell all that they take at that 
believe the outward Scurf or Bark may be foft, it eafily Rate, upon Pain of corporal Punifhment if they are 
crumbling off afterwards, which might give Occafion to deteded in a clandeftine Commerce. Thus equipp’d, 
the Fable. They told us, that a Piece of Coral having the they proceed to Sea, but they are not obliged to deliver 
carneous Scurf upon it (wetted) is juft the fame as when their Coral till the Seafon is over. Then each Boat’i 
it is firft taken out of the Sea. The beft Coral, rude Crew brings their Stock on Shore, where it is divided in- 
as it is found, is worth a Piftole the Pound, or two or to thirteen equal Pafts, of which the Maker of the Vef- 
three Pieces of Eight : Polilhed and wrought into fel has four, he that manages the Machine two, and each 
Beads, Bracelets, iAc. at Marfeilles it is fold for thirty, of the Crew one ; the thirteenth Part belongs to the 
forty, and fometimes fixty Sols, (/. e. fo many Pence) Company, and goes in 'Difcharge of the Equipment, 
.the Ounce. They find here 'white Coral alfo, but very In a good Seafon, a Boat will bring twenty five liun- 
rarely. ^ dred Weight of Cora!, from whence the Reader may 
To this Account of our Author, the following Par- judge of the Profit which attends this Fifhery ; and if 
ticulars may be added he defires to be informed of the total Value, it is enough 
to 
