as favourable; and that they might be
strong, hearty and able to haul away, their food consisted of dry
biscuits; a dish of maccaroni with just sufficient oil to make the sign of
the cross being served out for the Sunday's dinner."(1)

In those "good old days," not so very far distant, the dredging nets were
coarse and weighty, and the capstan of the clumsiest and most primitive
description, so that the coral-seeking serfs under contract were worked
like bullocks until they were often wont to fall asleep out of sheer
exhaustion as they hauled away mechanically. We can imagine then with what
raptures of joy these ill-treated mortals must have hailed the advent of
October, the month that terminated their long spell of suffering and
semi-starvation, and with what eagerness they must have returned
homewards, the more industrious to perform odd jobs during the winter
season on farms or in factories; the lazier to enjoy a well-earned holiday
of loafing on the quay or in the piazza. And although times have changed
for the better in the eyes of the coral-fisher, his lot still remains hard
enough, even in the present days of grace; whilst any employment that saps
the workman's strength during the hot summer months and leaves him idle or
unemployed in winter time cannot well be described as a desirable trade.
Yet the temptation to obtain a considerable sum of money in advance, as is
the case in this particular industry, often proves overwhelming to the
young man of the Torres or of Castellamare, imprudently married before he
is out of his teens and with an ever-increasing family. It is so easy to
accept the proffered gold, which will keep wife and babies in comparative
comfort throughout the long hot summer; unskilled labour is paid so
lightly on these teeming shores of the Terra di Lavoro; saddled already
with children he cannot make up his feeble mind to emigrate; in short, to
go a-coralling is his sole chance, if he wishes to keep his home together
and to stave off charity or starvation from his young wife and family.

Beyond Torre del Greco we seem to escape to a certain extent from the
enveloping network of human dwellings, so that we are at last enabled to
gain some idea of the natural features of the country. The oriental
character of the landscape, which marks more or less distinctly the whole
of the Neapolitan coast-line, will at once be noticed in the domed farm
buildings, not unlike Mahommedan _koubbas_, washed a gliste