510 GEOGRAPHICAL KEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



Charleston that did an extensive business in fresh fish, and the trade was largely controlled by 

 peddlers, who vended them through the streets. At the present time there are five firms that do 

 a regular business. These rent stalls in the market, where they do a retail business, and have 

 packing houses where they box and ice their fish for shipment. Other parties occasionally rent 

 stalls for a day or two, and sell fish, crabs, or shrimp; but the market trade is largely controlled 

 by the five firms. A few cod (Gadus morrhua), haddock (Mdanogrammus ce.glefinus), and halibut 

 (Hippoylossus americamis) are brought from the North during the winter months by one of the 

 firms, and red snappers and other species are occasionally brought from Savannah; but aside from 

 these the market is supplied wholly by the Charleston fishermen. The fish dealers of the city, 

 however, control but a small part of the retail trade, for the bulk of the catch is taken directly to 

 the consumer by negroes, who go about the city with trays offish and shrimp upon their heads. 



About the beginning of the present century the city government passed a law imposing a tax 

 of one cent on each and every bunch of fish sold by peddlers, and considerable money was gath- 

 ered into the treasury from this source. But as the trade increased a disposition to dishonesty 

 became noticeable ; this was carried to such an extent as to seriously affect the city's revenue from 

 this source. In 1878 the law was repealed and another was enacted requiring each vender to pay 

 a license of $1 a month for the privilege of selling within the city limits. This law is often evaded 

 and already, according to the clerk of the market, many are peddling fish without a license. For 

 the month of April, 1878, before the old law was repealed, the books of the market officials showed 

 eighty-nine different parties engaged in selling fish during some part of the month, though some 

 names appeared only two or three times. In April, 1S79, there were but thirty-three licenses 

 granted. From a conversation with the above officer we are led to believe that this business is not 

 decreasing, as the books would indicate, but that many are selling without a license, and that fully 

 fifty men are now largely dependent on this business for a livelihood, while, at times, the number 

 is doubtless considerably larger. No license is required for the sale of shrimp and crabs, and as 

 a result this business has been greatly overdone, there being frequently over one hundred people 

 engaged in peddling them through the streets. 



CHARLESTON AS A DISTRIBUTING CENTER. The shipping trade, as has been said, is controlled 

 wholly by the five market firms. Those doing the largest business are J. S. Terry & Co. and C. C. 

 Leslie. The business is confined chiefly to the larger cities of North and South Carolina, though 

 a lew fish are sent to Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. A few shad and bass are sent North each 

 season, but in 1879 the quantity was unusually small. The shipping season is from September to 

 May, the extreme heat preventing any trade with the country during the summer mouths. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. C. C. Leslie, the shipments from Charleston during the season of 1879-'SO were about 

 80,000 bunches of " string fish," 7,000 to 8,000 shad, 230,000 pounds of dressed sturgeon, and 

 38,000 pounds of sturgeon roe. The sturgeon and sturgeon roe are simply repacked in Charleston 

 on their way from the sturgeon camps on Winyah Bay and the Edisto River to the New York and 

 Philadelphia markets. 



183. THE FISHERIES OF BEAUFORT AND PORT ROYAL. 



ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION. Beaufort, a village of one thousand five hundred inhabitants, is 

 situated on a river of the same name, a few miles above the point where it empties into Port Royal 

 Bay. It has long been noted as a summer resort, and many of the people of the interior spend 

 several months of each year in this locality. The village has a small trade in lumber and is the 

 commercial center of a large agricultural section. 



About 4 miles below Beaufort is Port Royal, a village of three hundred inhabitants, situated 



