GULF OF MEXICO: WESTERN FLORIDA. 557 



the rivers and creeks where the land is rich enough to allow them to carry on a small plantation 

 successfully. Even those whose living depends entirely on fish and sponges prefer to spend their 

 leisure time on the banks of these little creeks and rivers. 



In Ocklockonee Bay there are quite a number of men who are engaged in the sponge fishery, 

 and also several small schooners which are in the trade and belong to parties in the neighborhood. 

 These vessels are registered at Appalachicola or Saint Mark's and their whole business is done at 

 those places. The men employed on these or Appalachicola vessels are numbered in the report of 

 Saint Mark's or of Appalachicola. Those of the sponge fishermen who are engaged in the mullet 

 fishery in its season, are the only professional fishermen who are engaged in the mullet fishery for 

 less than its entire season; all others who fish for mullet are the farmers. These farmers are the 

 genuine Florida "crackers" and, with but few exceptions, are a wretched lot of men. They are 

 lazy, ignorant, and unhealthy, not having proper food, or taking proper care of their persons. In 

 the fishing season there are about one hundred and twenty persons engaged at the various stations 

 on these bays. 



The mullet season begins in October and ends in December. During October and November 

 gill-nets are used, and in December both gill-nets and seines. It is only at certain points that 

 mullet are easily obtained by the use of seines. By continued experiments these spots have been 

 decided upon. No one is allowed to fish on the ground usually occupied by another without his 

 permission. The owner of a good fishing station either fishes there himself or rents it out to some 

 one who will give him a share of the catch. Not more than one seine is used at one station, but 

 the seiners often allow one or two crews with gill-nets to fish from their station for the sum of $5 

 per season for each net. It frequently happens that a station may not be suitable for seining but 

 excellent for gill-netting. At Dickinson Bay there are four gill-net stations; at Ocklockonee Bay 

 there is one seining station, which is also used by gill-netters ; at Skipper Creek are two seining 

 stations; at Spring Creek are three gill-net stations; at Purify Creek, two gill-net stations; at 

 Shell Point, one fine seining station; and at Goose Creek are two seining stations and one gill-net 

 station. 



FISHERMEN OF OCKLOCKONEE BAY. The fishermen live in a small, roughly made shed, occa- 

 sionally provided with a chimney and fire-place, with no other floor than the dirty sand on which 

 it is built ; no table at which to eat ; no bunks or other arrangements for sleeping ; no dishes or 

 any accommodations which give the slightest suggestion of comfort. These dwellings are merely 

 a shell, in which there is a confusion of barrels of salt, barrels of fish, fishing gear, and a lot of 

 uninviting-looking men. The fleas can be both seen and felt. The food of the men is of the 

 poorest quality and not as abundant as they desire. They sometimes take a few raw sweet pota- 

 toes out in the boat with them as a luncheon. Such food is calculated to make them thin and 

 unhealthy. 



GILL-NET FISHING AT OCKLOCKONEE 'BAY. Those fishing with gill-nets, as before stated, go 

 to the fishing grounds first, because they can fish profitably when the seiners cannot; and they, 

 therefore, make a much longer season than the seiners. Two men constitute a crew for a boat; each 

 boat carries one net. At the commencement of the season the mullet are found only in small 

 schools, feeding on the grassy shoals. All the fishing is then clone at high tide, be it in the night 

 or day. The usual method is to hem in a school so that they run against the net, and gill themselves. 

 This is somewhat strange, for when interrupted by a seine or even a single line, they invariably 

 jump out of the water over the obstacle. From one hundred to three hundred fish are called a good 

 catch for one net at a tide. Sometimes, when two crews are fishing together, both nets are run 

 around the same school of fish, each crew taking only those fish which are found in its own net. 



