BONITOES AND TUNNIES. 
Let due porportion every part commend, 
Nor leanness shrink too much, nor fat distend.* 
And more perfect figures than theirs poetry could not describe, nor the 
classic chisel of Greece portray; every man was an Academy model; to 
perfect symmetry of limb were added dark flashing eyes, jet black hair, 
beard, and moustache ; irreproachable noses, ivory teeth, and the rich- 
colored complexion of the South. What a contrast to a body of 
sandy-haired, freckled, hard-featured, stockingless Highlanders, landing 
from a Scotch steamboat, and challenging, by their self-satisfied air, atten¬ 
tion to an ungainly gait and knock-kneed deformity of person! 
Presently a simultaneous shout proclaimed, ‘ La pipa ! la pipa !’—our 
own boatmen, after repeating the cry, informed us that a sword-fish, or 
pipa, as the Palermo sailors designate it, had been seen to enter the decoy 
with the thunny, and must now be in the net, as the flooring had been 
drawn up several fathoms, the pipa presently swam towards the surface, to 
see what was the matter, and some well-practised eyes having caught a 
first glimpse of him, the crews testified their delight by three loud vocifera¬ 
tions. Frightened by the noise and the confused scene above, the long 
form of the fish might soon be distinguished, shooting now here, now 
there, athwart the hempen court; he rose at last, in much agitation, to 
the top, but instantly dived down again, scattering the spray far and wide 
with a lash of his powerful tail. This plunge only carried him among the 
trembling thunnies, pelamyds, and alalongas, which covered the bottom 
of the net; then up he came again, to find every eye looking fishy, and 
every hand ready to deal the fatal blow. Like a startled horse in a high- 
fenced paddock, the sword-fish now careered round and round the 
enclosure, vainly seeking an exit by which to bolt, but finding none, he 
backed a moment, then, swifter than thought, rushed on the net, ran his 
long weapon through, and made a large hole in the meshes ; but becoming 
hopelessly entangled, his fate was sealed, and death followed fast; one 
lusty arm throws a heavy harpoon, and misses; another with more steady 
aim, and a lighter missile, hits and wounds the fish, who, staggered at the 
blow, flounders from side to side, while the clear blue waves are stained 
all round, with his blood; in a few seconds a dozen barbed poles lie deep 
in the poor pipa’s flank, and after throwing up a whirlpool of discolored 
water, as the blows of the fishermen rain faster and faster upon their 
victim, the crimson of the flood deepens, and in less than a minute from 
the first wound the gashed carcass of the great scomber is poised up safely 
into the boat, with a triumphant shout. ‘ Five scudi, my lads, for our 
share !’ exclaims one of the excited mariners, as they lay him at last at 
the bottom : and ‘ Bless the Virgin and St. Anthony,’ says another, ‘ there 
is not much damage done this time to the net.’ ‘ Now, signor, we shall 
presently see the thunny,’ cried out our barcaroles; and accordingly, as 
* Oppian, J. Jones’s translation. 
