were shipped to Mediterranean ports and the Spanish West Indies. Very few are preserved, the French holding the monopoly of this trade. The fishery is carried on from July to February, but the fish are in the best condition and most abundant in November and December.

Dried sardines ("hosï-ka ") in Japan are considered a superior manure, but the price is often too high for poor cultivators to use them. These small fish abound in some of the seas around, so that small boats can hardly make their way through them. They are caught in large shoals to extract the oil from them. This oil is used for burning by the lower classes, but is of very inferior quality, and gives off a good deal of black dense smoke. The residue, after the oil is extracted, is sold for manure. A cwt. of this manure costs about 3s. 6d.

The Anchovy is another fish, the capture and cure of which gives extensive employment on the French Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean. The value of the fish caught on the French coasts ranges from £16,000 to £20,000 per annum. The fishery is carried on from May to October. After gutting and removing the head, they are washed and simply placed in barrels, with layers of salt, and a little reddish ochreous earth added to give them a colour.

Anchovies are also caught and salted in Norway, the shipments occasionally reaching 20,000 kegs.

The Americans have begun to utilize the Menhaden, or moss-bunker, by preserving it in oil like the French sardines. This fish has been variously named Brevortea menhaden and Alosa menhaden. The objection to these fish for general use is that they are very bony. The American Sardine Company, by some mechanical process, have removed this objection.

G

The preparation these fish go through is thus described: -They are first brought to the scaler, which consists of a long shaft, on which are twelve wheels filled with long blunt teeth. These revolve very rapidly, and take off every scale in an incredibly short space of time. From the scalers they are passed to hands who chop off the heads and cut out the entrails. They are then placed in the washing troughs, above which are a number of revolving circular brushes, by contact with which the insides are thoroughly cleaned. They are then deposited in pickle vats, where they remain for a few hours, until they are sufficiently salted; after which they are spread upon large tables, and placed in cooking cans. They are then taken to the steaming tanks, of which there are seven, each having a capacity for holding 1000 boxes. From the steaming cans, they are again taken to the tables and transferred to the permanent cans, when they are oiled and spiced, and then handed over to the tinsmiths to be soldered. The time from the fish being brought to the factory until they are boxed and labelled, is three days.

Now these fish are shipped in large quantities to every part of the States, and by many are considered quite equal in flavour to the sardines imported from France to Italy.

CHAPTER VII.

THE TUNNY FISHERY.

Tunny fishery in the Mediterranean-Size the fish attains-Description of a "madrague "-Statistics of the Italian fishery-Definition of terms usedScabeccio, or tunny preserved in oil—Salted tunny-Fishery at Tunis and Algeria.

THE tunny (Thynnus vulgaris, Cuv.) is a common fish in the Mediterranean, and has been known and celebrated from the remotest antiquity. The Mediterranean is, of all the seas, that least abundant in variety of fish, only nourishing about 440 species.

In Sicily the tunny forms one of the most considerable branches of the commerce of the island. In France it is much used, and is cooked in a variety of ways. It is frequently taken on the Atlantic coast, but must be considered a wanderer from more southern latitudes, and is there known by its popular name of "horse mackerel and albicore." In America its flesh is not held in estimation.

On the shores of the Mediterranean Sea it is found in great abundance, and forms one of the chief sources of wealth of the seaside population. The flesh is highly esteemed, and eaten both fresh and salted. It is extensively used in the Italian countries, pickled in various ways, boiled down in soups, and made into pies, which are thought to be very excellent, and possess the valuable

property of remaining good for nearly two months. The different parts of the fish are called by appropriate names, and are said to resemble beef, veal, and pork.

The shape of the tunny is not unlike the mackerel, but it is larger, rounder, and has a shorter snout. The general average length is about four feet, but sometimes it attains a length of 10 or 12 feet. One was recently caught in a mackerel net off Martha's Vineyard, and exhibited by Eugene Blackford, at Fulton market, New York city, that weighed over 700 lbs., and was 14 ft. 10 in. in length. De Kay, in his work, mentions one that was taken near Cape Ann that weighed about 1000 lbs. These are the largest tunny fish caught in America of which we have any information.

In May and June the tunnies move in vast shoals along the shores of the Mediterranean, seeking for suitable places to deposit their spawn. They are seen by sentinels, who are on the watch, and nets are prepared for their capture. These nets are of two kinds, one a common seine and the other called a "madrague." The outer portions of the madrague intercept the fish, and on their endeavouring to retreat they are forced to enter one of many chambers. They are thus driven from one chamber to another until they are forced into the last and smallest, which is significantly called the "chamber of death." This chamber is furnished with a floor of net, to which are attached a series of ropes, so that by hauling on the ropes the floor is drawn up and the fish brought to the surface. They struggle fiercely for liberty, but are speedily stunned by blows from long poles, and lifted into boats. From 5000 to 6000 tons of tunny fish have been shipped in some years from Elba.

The tunny fisheries, which supply the labouring popu

lation of the Sicilian coasts during the summer months with employment and food, generally yield more than enough for home consumption. The surplus, preserved in oil or salt, forms, together with anchovies, sardines, and sturgeons, a considerable article of export from Sicily. In 1866 the fishery carried on in the "parages" of the Isle of St. Pierre, situate on the south coast of Sardinia, yielded 15,850 tunny fish, weighing nearly 3,000,000 lbs., and approximately valued locally at £51,000. In 1869 the shipments amounted in value to about £25,000, in 1870 to £22,000, and in 1871 to about £35,000. This fish is exported to England, the north of Europe, to Italy, and also to Greece and Turkey.

The fishery occasionally employs at Palermo 1000 boats and 3500 men.

The produce of the tunny fishery at Caloforte, Italy, in 1874 was :

The value of the fishery in 1873 was as high as 4,248,700 francs (about £170,000).

The tunny fishery of 1875 from Cagliari, though better than that of 1874, was below the average yield, the value of the products not reaching 1,000,000 francs.

The exports of tunny fish salted and pickled from Sardinia in twelve years were as follows: