The haddock is also taken with lines. In the village of Findhorn, Morayshire, large [pg 176]numbers of fine haddocks are dried and smoked with the fumes of hard wood and sawdust. Hence the term, “Finnan haddies,” which, when obtained, are the finest for gastronomic purposes, being of superior flavour.
The mackerel (Scomber scombrus) is a most valuable fish for man. The tunny, bonita, and mackerel have yielded immense supplies of excellent food, the first-named being esteemed in parts of France far above any other fish. It is called the salmon of Provence. They attain a far larger growth than the mackerel, specimens having been found of seven, eight, and even nine feet in length, and weighing up to 400 pounds. They are specially abundant in the Mediterranean, where they are usually caught in nets. In Provence they are driven, much as are the pilchards in Cornwall, into an enclosed space called the madrague, where at last the fish finds itself ensnared in shallow water. Then “the carnage commences. The unhappy creatures,” says Figuier, “are struck with long poles, boat-hooks, and other weapons. The tunny-fishing presents a very sad spectacle at this its last stage; fine large fish perish under the blows of a multitude of fishermen, who pursue their bloody task with most dramatic effect. The sight of the poor creatures, some of them wounded and half dead, trying in vain to struggle with their ferocious assailants, is very painful to see. The sea red with blood, long preserves traces of this frightful slaughter.”
The bonita is principally a tropical fish, not unlike the mackerel, but more than double its size. It is the great enemy of the flying-fish, and possesses electrical or stinging powers, for any one attempting to hold the living fish is violently shaken as in palsy, and one’s very tongue is tied, and unable to make more than a spasmodic sputter.
THE MACKEREL (Scomber scombrus).
The mackerel is common to all European seas. It is the macquereau of the French, the macarello of the modern Romans, the makril of the Swedes, the bretal of some parts of Brittany, the scombro of the Venetians, the lacesto of the Neapolitans, and the cavallo of the Spaniards. It is one of the most universally-esteemed fish.
The mackerel is very voracious, and has courage enough to attack fish much larger than itself. It will even attack man, and is said to love him, gastronomically speaking. A Norwegian bishop who lived in the sixteenth century records the case of a sailor attacked by a shoal of mackerel, while he was bathing. His companions came to the rescue; but though they succeeded in driving off the fish, their assistance came too late; he died a few hours afterwards.
This fish is generally taken by drift-nets, usually 20 feet deep, and 120 long, well buoyed with cork, but without weights to sink them. The meshes are made of fine tarred twine. They are in their best condition in June and July. The ancients used to make a sauce piquant from their fat, which was called garum, and sold for the equivalent of sixteen shillings the pint. It was acrid and nauseous, but had the property of stimulating jaded appetites. Seneca charged it with destroying the coats of the stomach, and injuring the health of the high livers of his day. A traveller of the sixteenth century, Pierre Belon, found it highly esteemed in Constantinople.
FISHING FOR TUNNY OFF THE COAST OF PROVENCE.
The formidable sword-fish is also tolerable eating, especially when young, and there are fisheries for its capture in the Mediterranean. The fishermen of Messina and Reggio fish by night, using large boats carrying torches, and a mast, at the top of which one of their number is stationed to announce the approach of their prey, which is harpooned by a man standing in the bows. This fish attains a length of five or six feet, its sword forming three-tenths of its length. It is one of the whale’s natural enemies, and it objects even to ships passing through its element. There are numerous cases cited of ship’s bottoms having been pierced by it. In 1725, some carpenters having occasion to examine a ship [pg 178]just returned from the tropics, found the sword of one of these animals buried in its lower timbers. They averred that to drive a pointed iron bolt of the same size to the same depth would require eight or nine blows with a thirty-pound hammer. It was further evident from the position of the weapon that the fish had followed the ship while under full sail; it had penetrated the metal sheathing and three-and-a-half inches of the timber.