CHAPTER XXIII
Concerning Coral and Yellow Amber and the places where they are found.
Although coral
does not rank among precious stones in Europe, it is nevertheless held
in high esteem in the other quarters of the globe, and it is one of the
most beautiful of nature's- productions, so that there are
some nations who prefer it to precious stones. I shall set down here,
in a few words what I have been able to ascertain about the places
where it is fished for, and of the manner in which it is obtained.
I
shall say in the first place that there are three fisheries on the
coast of Sardinia. That obtained at Arguerrel * is the best and the
most beautiful of all, the second locality is called Boza,a and the third is close to the island of St. Pierre.3 There is another fishery on the coasts of the island of Corse,4
and the coral found there is slender but beautiful in colour. It is
found at two other places on the coast of Africa—one near the Bastion
de France,6 and the other at Tabarque ;6 the
coral from this locality is fairly thick and long, but the colours are
pale. There is a seventh fishery on the coast of Sicily, near Trapano ;7 the coral there is slender, but of good colour. There is still another locality on the
1 Alghero, near Cape Caccia, on west coast of Sardinia.
s
Boza, on the west coast of Sardinia, about 5 miles from Cagliari. The
coral fishery, mainly on the west coast, has now lost its importance (Ency. Brit., xxiv. 212).'
3 St. Pierre is probably some small islet not on ordinary maps.
4 Corsica.
5
The Bastion de France was one of the forts belonging to France on the
coast of Algiers before the nineteenth century. It was near La Calle,
which in 1594 belonged to France, and was the centre of a coral
fishery. It is now destroyed.
6 Tabarka, a rocky islet on north coast of Tunis, near La Calle.
' Trepani, the Drepanum of the ancients, 18 miles north of Marsala.
