Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-06-14
The Coral Fishers OF Capri.


The truth is that coral fishing is sla-
very to which nothing but sheer poverty
drives the fisherman. From April to
October their life is life of ceaseless
drudgery. Packed in a small boat with
out a deck, with no food but biscuit and
foul water, touching land only at inter
walls of month, and often deprived of
sleep for days together through short
ness of hands, the coral fishers are ex-
posed to a constant brutality from the
masters of their vessels which is too hor-
rible to bear description. The fishing is
itself hard work. The two beams of
wood laid crosswise, with hemp and
loose netting attached to them, which
serves as dredge, are dragged along
the sea bottom with rope which it some
times requires the crews of half a dozen
boats to haul to the surface. u it breaks
the whole boat is in peril; if the sailor
who is paying it out fails to notice when
it catches the coral, his thigh, over which
it runs, is cut to the bone. "A long pull
tears the branches entangled in the net
from the rock, or breaks off rock and all,
and shout of Joy bursts from the wea-
coral appears above the waves. To the
masters the fishery is lucrative enough;
of the 5000 francs which form the re-
turns of single boat, some 1000 francs
are clear profit. But measured by our
English notions, the pay of the men
seems miserably inadequate to the toll
and suffering which they undergo. For
the whole period of eight months, it va
ries with the strength and experience. of
the seamen from fl2 to els, the boys
receiving as little as "a, and much of
this is absorbed by the extortionate shop
keepers of Tore. Enough remains how
ever, to tempt the best of the Caprese
fishermen to sea. Even boys earnings
will pay his mothers rent. For the
young man it is the only mode in which
he can hope to gather sum sufficient
for marriage and his start in life. The
early marriages so common at Naples
and along the adjoining coast, are un-
known at Capri, where a girl seldom
weds before twenty, and where the poor
est peasant refuses the hand of his daugh-
ter to a suitor who cannot furnish we'd
ding settlement of some f20. Even
with the modern rise of wages, it is al
most impossible for lover to accumu-
late such a sum from the produce of his
ordinary toll, and his one resource is the
coral fishery.
The toll and suffering of the Summer
are soon forgotten when the young fish
ermen returns and adds his earnings to
the store of former years. When the
store is complete the ceremonial of a
Caprese betrothal begins with "the en-
bassy," as it is termed, of his mother to
the parents Of the future bride. Clad
in her best array, and holding in her
hand the favorite nosegay of the. island,
a branch of sweet basil sprinkled with
cinnamon powder and with rose-col-
ored carnation in the midst of it, the
old fish wife makes her way through
the dark lanes to the vaulted room where
her friend awaits her, with charming
air of ignorance as to the errand on which
she comes.
Half an hour passes in diplomat,
fence, in chat over the weather, the
crops, or the price Of maccaroni, till, at 6
given signal the girl herself leaves the
room, and the "embassadress" breaks
out in praise Of her good looks, her in.
dustry' and her good repute. The par
ents retort by praise of the young fisher.
man, and compliments pass quickly into
business, and vow. of eternal friend
shir between the fainilieslis sworn ovei
dish of figs aud bottle rcsolio. The
priest is soon called 10, and the. lovers
formally betrothed for six months, {
ceremony which is followed in "a few
days by new appearance of the embassa
dress, with the customary offering ot
. trinkets, from the lover to his promis
ed spouse. The old Caprese costume
Z has disappeared, but the girls still pride
themselves on the number, and value o.
( their ornaments-the "spadella" or still
!. lettc, which buds the elaborately-braid
/ Jed mass of their ebOp hair; the circula
gold ear-rings, with inner circles o
pearls; the gold chain or lacetta, worI
fold upon fold round the neck; tn
bunch of gold talismans suspended ol
the breast; the profusion of heavy sill
yer rings which loads every finger. TIL
Z Sunday after the betrothal, when she ap
pears at high mass in all her finery,
! the proudest day of Capri girls life
!. but love has few of the tenderer inc
dents which make its poetry in tn
2 North. There is no sslover's lanep i
Capri, for a maiden may not walk wit
a her betrothed save in presence of a wit
a ness; and kiss before marriage is, .
sAuld Robin Gray" calls it q ''sin :
which no modest girls stcops The fr