Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (beautiful books to read .txt) 📖

Fingers Of The Fishermen.

We Have Abundance Of The Saepia, Or Cuttle-Fish, Of Which The

People In This Country Make A Delicate Ragout; As Also Of The

Polype De Mer, Which Is An Ugly Animal, With Long Feelers, Like

Tails, Which They Often Wind About The Legs Of The Fishermen.

They Are Stewed With Onions, And Eat Something Like Cow-Heel. The

Market Sometimes Affords The Ecrivisse De Mer, Which Is A Lobster

Without Claws, Of A Sweetish Taste; And There Are A Few Rock

Oysters, Very Small And Very Rank. Sometimes The Fishermen Find

Under Water, Pieces Of A Very Hard Cement, Like Plaister Of

Paris, Which Contain A Kind Of Muscle, Called La Datte, From Its

Resemblance To A Date. These Petrifactions Are Commonly Of A

Triangular Form And May Weigh About Twelve Or Fifteen Pounds Each

And One Of Them May Contain A Dozen Of These Muscles Which Have

Nothing Extraordinary In The Taste Or Flavour, Though Extremely

Curious, As Found Alive And Juicy, In The Heart Of A Rock, Almost

As Hard As Marble, Without Any Visible Communication With The Air

Or Water. I Take It For Granted, However, That The Inclosing

Cement Is Porous, And Admits The Finer Parts Of The Surrounding

Fluid. In Order To Reach The Muscles, This Cement Must Be Broke

With Large Hammers; And It May Be Truly Said, The Kernal Is Not

Worth The Trouble Of Cracking The Shell. [These Are Found

In Great Plenty At Ancona And Other Parts Of The Adriatic, Where

They Go By The Name Of Bollani, As We Are Informed By Keysler.]

Among The Fish Of This Country, There Is A Very Ugly Animal Of

The Eel Species, Which Might Pass For A Serpent: It Is Of A

Dusky, Black Colour, Marked With Spots Of Yellow, About Eighteen

Inches, Or Two Feet Long. The Italians Call It Murena; But

Whether It Is The Fish Which Had The Same Name Among The Antient

Romans, I Cannot Pretend To Determine. The Antient Murena Was

Counted A Great Delicacy, And Was Kept In Ponds For Extraordinary

Occasions. Julius Caesar Borrowed Six Thousand For One

Entertainment: But I Imagined This Was The River Lamprey. The

Murena Of This Country Is In No Esteem, And Only Eaten By The

Poor People.

 

 

 

Craw-Fish And Trout Are Rarely Found In The Rivers Among The 

Part 7 Letter 18 ( Nice, September 2, 1764.) Pg 170

Mountains. The Sword-Fish Is Much Esteemed In Nice, And Called

L'empereur, About Six Or Seven Feet Long: But I Have Never Seen

It. [Since I Wrote The Above Letter, I Have Eaten Several Times

Of This Fish, Which Is As White As The Finest Veal, And Extremely

Delicate. The Emperor Associates With The Tunny Fish, And Is

Always Taken In Their Company.] They Are Very Scarce; And When

Taken, Are Generally Concealed, Because The Head Belongs To The

Commandant, Who Has Likewise The Privilege Of Buying The Best

Fish At A Very Low Price. For Which Reason, The Choice Pieces Are

Concealed By The Fishermen, And Sent Privately To Piedmont Or

Genoa. But, The Chief Fisheries On This Coast Are Of The

Sardines, Anchovies, And Tunny. These Are Taken In Small

Quantities All The Year; But Spring And Summer Is The Season When

They Mostly Abound. In June And July, A Fleet Of About Fifty

Fishing-Boats Puts To Sea Every Evening About Eight O'clock, And

Catches Anchovies In Immense Quantities. One Small Boat Sometimes

Takes In One Night Twenty-Five Rup, Amounting To Six Hundred

Weight; But It Must Be Observed, That The Pound Here, As Well As

In Other Parts Of Italy, Consists But Of Twelve Ounces.

Anchovies, Besides Their Making A Considerable Article In The

Commerce Of Nice, Are A Great Resource In All Families. The

Noblesse And Burgeois Sup On Sallad And Anchovies, Which Are

Eaten On All Their Meagre Days. The Fishermen And Mariners All

Along This Coast Have Scarce Any Other Food But Dry Bread, With A

Few Pickled Anchovies; And When The Fish Is Eaten, They Rub Their

Crusts With The Brine. Nothing Can Be More Delicious Than Fresh

Anchovies Fried In Oil: I Prefer Them To The Smelts Of The

Thames. I Need Not Mention, That The Sardines And Anchovies Are

Caught In Nets; Salted, Barrelled, And Exported Into All The

Different Kingdoms And States Of Europe. The Sardines, However,

Are Largest And Fattest In The Month Of September. A Company Of

Adventurers Have Farmed The Tunny-Fishery Of The King, For Six

Years; A Monopoly, For Which They Pay About Three Thousand Pounds

Sterling. They Are At A Very Considerable Expence For Nets,

Boats, And Attendance. Their Nets Are Disposed In A Very Curious

Manner Across The Small Bay Of St. Hospice, In This

Neighbourhood, Where The Fish Chiefly Resort. They Are Never

Removed, Except In The Winter, And When They Want Repair: But

There Are Avenues For The Fish To Enter, And Pass, From One

Inclosure To Another. There Is A Man In A Boat, Who Constantly

Keeps Watch. When He Perceives They Are Fairly Entered, He Has A

Method For Shutting All The Passes, And Confining The Fish To One

Apartment Of The Net, Which Is Lifted Up Into The Boat, Until The

Prisoners Are Taken And Secured. The Tunny-Fish Generally Runs

From Fifty To One Hundred Weight; But Some Of Them Are Much

Larger. They Are Immediately Gutted, Boiled, And Cut In Slices.

The Guts And Head Afford Oil: The Slices Are Partly Dried, To Be

Eaten Occasionally With Oil And Vinegar, Or Barrelled Up In Oil,

To Be Exported. It Is Counted A Delicacy In Italy And Piedmont,

And Tastes Not Unlike Sturgeon. The Famous Pickle Of The

Ancients, Called Garum, Was Made Of The Gills And Blood Of The

Tunny, Or Thynnus. 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 

Part 7 Letter 18 ( Nice, September 2, 1764.) Pg 171

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.

 

 

 

Part 7 Letter 19 (Nice, October 10, 1764..) Pg 172

 

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. In Silver, There Is The Scudo

Of Six Livres, The Mezzo Scudo Of Three; And The Quarto, Or Pezza

Di Trenta Soldi: But All These Are Very Scarce. We Seldom See Any

Gold And Silver Coin, But The Loui'dore, And The Six, And Three-Livre

Pieces Of France; A Sure Sign That The French Suffer By

Their Contraband Commerce With The Nissards. The Coin Chiefly

Used At Market Is A Piece Of Copper Silvered, That Passes For

Seven Sols And A Half; Another Of The Same Sort, Valued Two Sols

And A Half. They Have On One Side The Impression Of The King's

Head; And On The Other, The Arms Of Savoy, With A Ducal Crown,

Inscribed With His Name And Titles. There Are Of Genuine Copper,

Pieces Of One Sol, Stamped On One Side With A Cross Fleuree; And

On The Reverse, With The King's Cypher And Crown, Inscribed As

The Others: Finally, There Is Another Small Copper Piece, Called

Piccalon, The Sixth Part Of A Sol, With A Plain Cross, And On The

Reverse, A Slip-Knot Surmounted With A Crown; The Legend As

Above. The Impression And Legend On The Gold And Silver Coins,

Are The Same As Those On The Pieces Of Seven Sols And A Half. The

Livre Of Piedmont Consists Of Twenty Sols, And Is Very Near Of

The Same Value As An English Shilling: Ten Sols, Therefore, Are

Equal To Six-Pence Sterling. Butcher's Meat In General Sells At

Nice For Three Sols A Pound; And Veal Is Something Dearer: But

Then There Are But Twelve Ounces In The Pound, Which Being 

Part 7 Letter 19 (Nice, October 10, 1764..) Pg 173

Allowed For, Sixteen Ounces, Come For Something Less Than Twopence

Halfpenny English. Fish Commonly Sells For Four Sols The

Twelve Ounces, Or Five For The English Pound; And These Five Are

Equivalent To Three-Pence Of Our Money: But Sometimes We Are

Obliged To Pay Five, And Even Six Sols For The Piedmontese Pound

Of Fish. A Turkey That Would Sell For Five Or Six Shillings At

The London Market, Costs Me But Three At Nice. I Can Buy A Good

Capon For Thirty Sols, Or Eighteen-Pence; And The Same Price I

Pay For A Brace Of Partridges, Or A Good Hare. I Can Have A

Woodcock For Twenty-Four Sols; But The Pigeons Are Dearer Than In

London. Rabbits Are Very Rare; And There Is Scarce A Goose To Be

Seen