sleeping at the same time. Alas, poor fellows!
—many is the man who pays the price of
health and life for such ceaseless and
exhausting work as this is; and many is the
wetched sailor who returns to his native
village too happy to breathe out his last
breath in the bosom of his mother or his
wife, the victim of consumption and malaria.
Nor is the diet such as to recruit a system
thus worn out; for, with occasional exceptions,
bread and water is their fare till they return,
the water often being in such a state that, as
many of the sailors have said to me, " we are
obliged to drink it through our teeth." Of
the treatment which those men receive it is
almost superfluous to speak; slaves, in .point
of fact—as slaves they are treated. " We
forget our own names from the time we enter
the service," have they said to me; " the most
disgusting sobriquets being applied to us,
accompanied by the frequent use of the rope's-
end." I have heard, too, of special acts of
brutality, so revolting and horrible that I
should fear the imputations of exaggeration
were I to relate them.

The crews are engaged to 29th September
for the Barbary fishers— and 2nd
October for Sardinian fishers; or, in the
language of the country, the Fêtes of San
Michael, and of the blessed Madonna del
Rosario. And never, surely, did the saints
appear so amiable as when putting a term to
such labour and suffering. On these nights
every net is raised, and every hand is still.
What matters it to them if the most tempting
branches of coral are glowing beneath them?
nothing would induce them to give another
pull, even if there was a promise of drawing
two thousand ducats. They are free again,
and nothing can be set in competition with
that delicious reality. How sweet their dreams
that night! Rest, rest, rest, and liberty for
four months to come! Rough and degraded,
too, as they are, by continual ill-treatment,
they have their affections and attachments,
strong and glowing as are those of the
daintiest and proudest of the land; and the
"cara sposa " and the " cambino," chuckling
and crowing, come and visit them in their
slumbers on the vigils of those blessed
days.

The sails are set, and away they glide into
port. Their passports visé, and their papers
signed, homewards they turn their happy
faces. I have mingled with many a group on
the cliffs around the lovely Bay of Naples,
as these vessels were flying through the storm,
and listened to their exclamations with no slight
interest. "Will Giuseppe be on board that
vessel, or has Giovanni yet entered port?"
And the call comes at length, and their hearts
are leaping with joy, and their eyes are glistening
with tears, as they once more go to Torre,
not to bid farewell, but to welcome their hope
and their support after the dangers and
privations of so many months. In many a village
church on the following Sunday, there is a
brilliant display of finery— those young men
grouped together near the altar are some of
the coral fishers. I know them by their new
crimson sashes and the glowing Phrygian
caps. I fancy, too, that I can detect here and
there a new gown, and a new pair of earrings,
as brilliant as pearls can make them, with a
bit of green glass in the centre, as though
they would wear emeralds as well as their
betters. Well, well! let them indulge their
innocent vanity. I like some degree of it in
the poor; it is the guarantee of self-respect:
besides, who on such an occasion as this would
find it in his heart to carp or censure? All
now is joy and merriment; and there is
feasting and dancing, and the tambour
summonses all to the gay and graceful Tarantella;
and the bread, and the water, and the
rope's end, and the savage roaring of the
waves— all, all, are forgotten in the pleasures
of that delightful hour. It is a blessed thing
to gaze on such a scene as this, and think that
even amid the labour and sorrow, God has
still provided their moments, aye, and hours,
of enjoyment for the poor! Let man be
careful not to curtail their innocent relaxations.
I would not have the weight of such
a sin upon my conscience.

How are these poor fellows to live for the
next four months ? Scarcely has any one of
them a grain in his pocket. Receiving their
money by anticipation, the usual consequence
has followed. Even a small sum of money can
never, they think, be exhausted; and with this
wise reflection, rotolo after rotolo of maccaroni
has been devoured, and caraffas of wine without
number have been swallowed;—besides, who
cares for saving? will not the same sum be
coming in January? Thus the Coral fishers
are amongst the most reckless and improvident
class of sailors, depending always upon
credit, which they get at Jew's interest, and
with great facility—their means being as sure
as those of expectant heirs. In every place
where these men abound, are to be found
shopkeepers who supply them with
everything they want, and lose no opportunity of
encouraging extravagance: a good score is
thus run up, and as benevolence must be
presumed always to have its reward, fifty
per cent profits at least are always laid on.
Pay-day comes at last; and down go the
sailors to Torre del Greco, accompanied by
their friends the shopkeepers, who stick
to them like leeches; application is made
to the masters to stop the wages: then
some difficulties arise, and amidst brawling
and extortion, and recrimination, the
curtain drops. I never knew a Coral fisher
well off.

Coral is, to the animal which forms it, what
the shell is to the snail; it is the nest or crust
of a certain species of sea-worm. It is
multiplied with extraordinary rapidity by the
little animals, and grows on rocks, or on any
solid sub-marine body, in a shrub-like form;
and although it is produced at from ten to a