Page:Once a Week Volume 7.djvu/216

208 to form each year during the fishing season an apparatus, to the right and left of which was found a sufficient quantity of firm earth to establish a reservoir and a dépôt of instruments for artificial propagation.

In order to show our readers more plainly how the great series of canals and reservoirs act, we take leave to borrow from one of the works of M. Coste, a bird’s-eye view of a valley and its labyrinth in the lagoon of Comaccio.

A trench,, dug through the islet on which the valley is established (the banks of which are established against overflows by stones and fascines), puts in communication by means of two branches the Palotta Canal, , with a basin of the lagoon,. In this trench there is established by the aid of reed hurdles, upheld by stakes, one of the most simple and ingenious fishing apparatuses that it is possible to imagine,—an apparatus in which one can distinguish three principal compartments,, , , having each its dependencies, , ,. The first of these compartments,, is that in which the fish are enticed that wish to gain the Palotta Canal, in order to make their way to the sea. It extends itself, or widens, from the edge of basin,, and forms there a sort of ante-chamber, , to the partition walls of which is led an open strait for the passage of the waters. This disposition allows the currents which the flood of the Adriatic creates, to make themselves felt further away in the lagoon, and incites the fish more readily to enter the snares that are prepared for their reception. From the side of the Palotta Canal this compartment is bounded by two portions, which, supporting one of their extremities, each on a pile, meet again by means of the other extremities at an acute angle towards the middle of the canal. To this angle, which is open-mouthed, is generally adapted a triangular chamber, as in, of which the end is also open-mouthed, and opens into the second compartment of the labrynthlabyrinth [sic] , which is the greatest of all, forming a vast enclosure, from which the fish that wish to enter the chamber, , of the first compartment, , can only come out into another chamber, , by a fatal fall at the only opening which is offered to them, through partition walls solid enough to become the prison of the mullet, the sole, or the dory, but too feeble to retain the eel. This fish slides with very little effort between the reeds (the degree of resistance offered by which is calculated purposely for this end), and pass into the last part of the labyrinth,. The chamber,, which a plank surrounds, to afford facilities to reach the fish, by the aid of which the picking and choosing is performed naturally. The third compartment,, is used entirely for eels. It is more complicated than the two others, and has stouter and thicker partition walls. It resembles a fer de lance in form, and has three salient angles. Each of these angles is open-mouthed, like those of the two other compartments, which open equally into a triangular apparatus,, the partition walls of which are formed by two, three, and even four hurdles placed above one another, and can resist all attempts of the imprisoned eels to escape. A simple purse net-work, which is placed in these fish-traps, suffices to preserve all the eels that are introduced into it. If these are not in a sufficient quantity to become the object of a special convoy, they are provisionally deposited in large spherical wicker panniers, which hold them immersed by the aid of cords. Each valley has, for the purposes of artificial propagation, first, a station,, where the vallanti are shut up; secondly, one or more fishing barks; thirdly, a canal of communication, , shut up at each extremity by a simple sluice, , which can be lifted to allow the passage of the small boats, and closed immediately behind them. This canal is the only way by which the boats can pass from the Palotta Canal into the basins, and vice versâ. Fourthly, the greater part of the valleys have also either, beside the place where vallanti is lodged, or on another part of the isle, a house which serves to protect the fishing instruments, the materials proper to the construction of the labyrinths, &c., and sometimes as a place of accommodation for the carpenter who constructs the boats.

We have been somewhat particular in our description, but not more so than is actually necessary.

As to the question, how eel-breeding would pay as a commercial speculation, we can present a few figures by way of data for calculations on that part of the case. The quantity of eel fry which ascend from the sea into the lagoon is positively enormous: they proceed in such myriads as quite to defy enumeration. What is called the seeding (that is, the filling with fish) of the lagoon commences early in February, when column upon column of the young eels may be found proceeding up the canal, and also up the two rivers. The sluices are of course all opened wide, and they remain open for about three months, till the whole of the young fish are supposed to have ascended. About the end of April the sluices are