There Is A Much More Considerable Fishery Of
It In Sardinia, Where It Is Said To Employ Four Hundred Persons;
But This Belongs To The Duc De St. Pierre.
In the neighbourhood
of Villa Franca, there are people always employed in fishing for
coral and sponge, which grow adhering to the rocks under water.
Their methods do not favour much of ingenuity. For the coral,
they lower down a swab, composed of what is called spunyarn on
board our ships of war, hanging in distinct threads, and sunk by
means of a great weight, which, striking against the coral in its
descent, disengages it from the rocks; and some of the pieces
being intangled among the threads of the swab, are brought up
with it above water. The sponge is got by means of a cross-stick,
fitted with hooks, which being lowered down, fastens upon it, and
tears it from the rocks. In some parts of the Adriatic and
Archipelago, these substances are gathered by divers, who can
remain five minutes below water. But I will not detain you one
minute longer; though I must observe, that there is plenty of
fine samphire growing along all these rocks, neglected and
unknown. - Adieu.
LETTER XIX
NICE, October 10, 1764.
DEAR SIR, - Before I tell you the price of provisions at Nice, it
will be necessary to say something of the money. The gold coin of
Sardinia consists of the doppia di savoia, value twenty-four
livres Piedmontese, about the size of a loui'dore; and the mezzo
doppia, or piece of twelve livres.
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