Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-10

| coast fsherwomen. ..,ss.~s
How tho Fisherwomen DresA
The chief feature Of the dress of the
women of the italian coast fishers is .
double skirt, the lower portion of which
| hanas rather scantily about their ankles.
| The upper skirt is often hooked up at the
| front and sides forming-a sort Of bag. In
this they carry seaweed, fuel, fish or she'll
| fish from the sands; and when not in such
use it is drawn up over the shoulders and
back of the head as sort OF wrap. Mother .
also wrap this skirt about their babes when
needing to carry them for any distance.
cotton, but if tie women can possess any
sort of holiday attire, the upper skirt may
! be of scarlet, yellow or green, looped most
gracefully above the lower skirt and sur
mounted by a black cloth, or in rare in
stances coarse velvet bodice. They rarely
wear any foot covering and only such head
covering as is supplied by the folds of the
| upper skirt.
Although the coastwise italian fishermen
| differ from the Venetian lagoon fishers, who
| are a hereditarily distinct class, making
their living by shoal-ishing and wading in
| the mud for crabs and other shell ish, In
being invariably deep sea fishers, still they
are never fond of long voyages and rarely
pass more than three or four nights on the
water at one trip. They are fond, like the
Chioggian fishers, of forming small fleets of
five or six craft for fishing in one locality,
and keeping one of their "bragozzi" with
its crew, plying back and forth with the
''catches," either directly to market with
fresh fish, or to their own home ports with
fish for curing.
Women More Energetic Than Men.
The women do not shrink from even the
roughest labor on the sea; and it Is no un-
common sight to see wife and daughters
handling ropes, nets and sails, cleaning or
sorting fish on deck or vigorously engaged
in any necessary labor of the boat. Indeed,
so far as my observation goes these fisher
mems wives are the propelling, active, in
domitable force Of their lives and iveli-
hood. Their movements are vigorous and
even virile, while the men are phlegmatic
and slow. At the tiller, in unturling or
reefing the sails, paying out or hauling in
the nets, slowing away the fish, transfer
ring them from their craft to the market
hragozzo, in hauling tie boats upon the
beach, In spreading and drying the nets, in
fact, in every possible manner in which
they labor beside or in advance of their
husbands, they lay hold of their toll with q
vigor and muscular vim exhibiting tremend-
Gus energy and force.
Their reach of arm and stride of leg are
remarhables and the muscles of their
shoulders and breasts show extraordinary
development. Studying them as I have
often done when they were unconscious OF OBJ
servation, their strange, gruff voices, their
strength, and, above all, their savage energy
Of action, has prompted the thought that if
any future Masaniello were to leap from
among the fisher folk with the dread shout
of 'sMorte al NAL governo" the resistless
liberator would prove an Italian fisher wo-
man rather than an Italian fisherman.
Capacity for Food and Sleep.
The lethargic quality of the men is illus
trated by their inordinate capacity for food
and sleep and especially the latter. The
moment the fisher arrives on shore his
labors-which, if his quests have not been
far and dangerous have already been per-
formed largely by women aboard his bra
gozzo-are at an end. His banchetto or
shore-coming feast is always ready, and he
betakes himself to this, while his wife cares
for boat, gear and fish, with the rapacity of
half-famished dog. I have often seen a
single fisherman thus.eat at one sitting more
than quart of stufa or hodgepodge stew of
shredded fish and vegetables, a pound of
bread, and that dearest of all delicacies to
an italian fisherman, polenta, or chestnut
flour pudding bigger than his shaggy head
with goats milk cheese as large as his
fist.
This done, he filings himself on his belly
upon the floor of his hut or beside his habi-
tation in the warm sand of the shores1de
street, and instantly becomes obivious to
all worldly concerns in sleep: and he will
sleep from IL to 20 hours without changing
his position. Often have come into these
little fishing villages, and, while all was
hustle and activity among the women, found
a score of men thus disposed in doorways or
half burrowed in the sand, until it seemed
as though these sea-rov1ng sluggards were
all lying in hopeless drunken stupor, or
were merely the bodies of dead fishermen
cast up from the deep.
They Have Their Superstttions.
Several odd objects are carried by the
Italian fisherman as necessary to good
luck in general. A tiny paddle fashioned
from chestnut tree that has been struck
BY lightning has unusual power for good,
although I never could secure the reason
for their faith. The figure of a little
humpbacked man called q gobbo, globe
surmounted by cross and a cock with star
in its beak are frequently painted upon the
sails. All of these possess fortuitous in
fuences. Another favorite good luck token
is a little brass orcia or cruet of oil 1t is
kept carefully sealed and FURNISHED, and
few drops are cast upon the waters if the
fish are not sufficiently plentiful, or if q
storm threatens the interruption of their
work. But most essential of all things to
these toilers Of the sea is muscino, or
kitten. No bragozzo can put out from the
land without this, and If such mischance
should happen, all on board would surely be
lost.
The blind faith of these folk in the ef-
fcacy of blessed and holy relics to appease
the wrath of the sea is indeed pathetic.
Many keep themselves in a state of utter
impoverishment in providing necessary
amulets and charms Not only is the fisher
mans person covered with these, but his
boat must also possess all possible saving
power through these religious appliances
Should some great storm arise and genuine
danger come, one by one these appeasitive
objects are cast upon the waves with faith
that is positively sublime. Meanwhile his
wife ashore, possessed Of the same implicit
and pious confidence, gives her most pre-
cious relics to the sea that her husband may
come safe to land. And have no doubt
that when fatal disaster comes as it always
does, this man sinks into the silences be-
meath the tempest with his last spark of
vital consciousness an undimmed flame of
trust and faith. EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.
BRANDY SMUGGLED IN FLOWERA
The ingenious Device Discovered by French
Customs Officers.