Briqueira
Description of the briqueira, a Madeiran fishing rig of two quince rods with weighted hooked lines used for fish of rocky bottoms.
A fishing rig consisting of two slender quince rods, joined at their thicker ends and carrying at their thinner ends one or two lines one braça (fathom, about 2.2 m) long, to which the hooks are attached. At the point where the two rods meet there is a loop or eye, to which the line holding the rig is tied; the rig is sunk by a weight fastened to the rods just below the loop. This weight may be a piece of lead, in which case it is called a lead sinker (chumbada); or it may be a simple rounded stone, and then it is called a stone sinker (pandulho). On Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) the quince rods are sometimes replaced by tamarisk stems. This rig is generally used for the fine fish that live on rocky bottoms, such as groupers, pargos, requemes, alfonsinos, etc.
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Place
Places mentioned · 01
- Porto Santo
Where tamarisk stems sometimes replace quince rods.
An island of the archipelago, settled alongside Madeira and forming one of the three captaincies. It has always constituted a single parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade, whose church was repeatedly sacked. The Elucidário records the Moorish pirate raid of 1617, its own Misericórdia and a rainwater channel built on this drought-prone island.