At the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth, in those times of hunger and misery, wit ensured survival.

 

Dry agriculture

This ancestral practice, deeply adapted to the semi-arid climate, shaped the landscape. To make agricultural use of these rugged limestone terrains, the steep coastal slopes were terraced.
Local varieties resistant to drought, wind, and heat were cultivated, such as fig, almond, and carob trees, which were highly valued as a source of fodder.

 

Cliff fisheries

This land, with its imposing cliffs that drop vertically into the sea, still echoes with the silent courage of those fishermen who, out of necessity, descended into the dark sea on cold winter nights with the help of ropes. They were humble men, farmers or labourers who supplemented their families' income with fishing. At dusk, they would leave their homes with their fishing rods, baskets, and some bread or dried figs to eat.
They would descend along paths carved into the rock, often with the help of old ropes, iron anchors in the rock, or improvised ladders made of wood or iron.
They fished from narrow ledges. If there was no ledge, they would build a small platform out of wood and wattle on the wall, suspended with ropes about two metres above the water. In some cases, they built small shelters using the holes in the cliff.
On winter nights, when cuttlefish and squid come close to the coast to spawn, the so-called ‘encesers’, the fishermen would light fires to attract them, formerly burning wood, later with carbide lanterns or oil lamps.
Long fishing rods were used, handmade from reeds harvested from the local reed beds. When reeds were not available, the line was cast by hand, tied to a stone as a counterweight. Another technique was to cast a circular net over the school of fish attracted by the light.
In addition to cuttlefish and squid, they caught a wide variety of fish such as obladas, mullet, conger eels, scorpion fish, octopus, spider crabs, salps, bream, moray eels and groupers.
Fishing on the cliffs was hard, lonely and very dangerous; a treacherous wave or a loose stone was enough to send you falling into the void.
The evocative image of a solitary figure, motionless, perched on top of the cliffs, casting his rod into the sea, is part of the cultural patrimony of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell.

 

Smuggling

It was a clandestine activity, deeply rooted, fuelled by the scarcity and economic hardship of the time, high taxes, rural poverty and strict state control over key products.
The most common trade was in tobacco, alcohol, coffee, sugar and fabrics.
Smugglers usually worked at night, taking advantage of their knowledge of the coastline, with its many hidden coves, such as Llebeig, where they unloaded their goods, which were then collected by mules.They had the complicity of the people, including fishermen, farmers and, on occasion, bribed authorities. Smuggling was not seen as an illegal practice, but as a means of subsistence.