lcept. A capon* coils ufually eight or ten Venetian 1 ivres. T h e
fcarcity o f domeftick fowls is, however, compenfated by a great
abundance o f wild fowl and game,, fuch as partridges, turtle
doves, hares, rabbits, &e. The inhabitants ufe no* nets, nor
fnares in order to catch their game with little trouble. Polecats
are very common, and their Ikins are carefully collected and,
fent to Venice, where they have the art o f drefling them fo as to
refemble the fur o f the marten. Thefe good iflanders perfuade-
themfelves, that no fpecies o f poifonous animals can live on*
their iiland, and the common people do not fail to attribute this-
circumftance to a miracle o f St. Gaudentius; a pious credulity,
to which father Farlati, in his Illirico Sacra, gives- his aflent. *
W e however, faw vipers there,, o f which the bite could not be-
very falutary. Many creditable perfons alfo affuredus, tha t fer-
pents o f an enormous lize are fometimes met with, fome o f
which are a foot in circumference, and three or four yards long;
others more rarely feen, are two. feet round, and lefs than two
yards long; which defcription agrees very well with a fpecies-
o f ferpents very fsequently feen on the coaft o f Guinea- W e
however faw none o f thofe monftrous ferpents, either alive or
dead-
* Several ether ¡Hands boaft the fame privilege, among which are Candia, Malta
, and Ireland. O f this laft iiland Adrianus Junius (Jonque) a native of Horn
in Holland, and a writer, traveller, and phylician of the fifteenth. century, fung
thus:
Jlla ego funt' Gratis olim glacialis Ierne
Dicta, id Jnfonia puppis bene coghita nautisr
Cut Deus, et melior rerum nafcentium origo
Jus commune dedit cum Greta altrice tonantis
■Naxia ne nojtris dijfundant ftbila in oris
Terrifcce creti tabo Phorcynidos angues ;
Et forte illati comprejjis faucibus atris
Virofo pariter vitcm cum fanguine ponwit.
dead. Thofe who allured us o f their exiftence, added that they
were amphibious, and ufually inhabited unfrequented bays.
Our time did not permit us to obferve the variety o f birds and
infeits.
O f the Pijhtfig.
About three hundred perfons o f the city o f Cherfi, and a much
greater number in the other places o f the iiland are employed
in fifhing. The fea thereabouts is plentifully ftored with tunny
fifli, dentali, mackrel, and an infinite quantity o f fardines, which
are faked, and diftributed in barrels all over the ftate, forming
a very confiderable branch o f inland trade. The produft o f
this fi filing, and of that o f the tunny, is not eafily calculated}
as it depends not only on the more or lefs numerous paffage o f
the fifties, but alfo on the number of fifhermen who concur for
the feafon. There are fix principal polls round the iiland o f
Cherfo, for catching the tunny filh, called by the iflanders fo n -
nere. The Sardines alfo have their conftant ftations in their
paffage, one of which is the little iiland o f San/ego, which we
(hall have occafion to mention again. Thefe voyages o f the
fifties deferve to be obferved and examined with particular attention,
having fomething ftill more furprifing in them than the
paffages o f the quails, fwallows, &c. The inhabitants o f the
fea have fome of their cuftoms analogous to thofe o f the terref-
trial animals, and the emigrations and pilgrimages which fucceed
from year to year under the waters, mull have fomething very curious
in them. The regularity, and the mutability of thefe voyages
appear to me fo much the more worthy of obfervation, as
hitherto they have been but little obferved in our feas, though
the fmall diftance o f one ihore from the other, and the frequency
I l i a o f