578 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



curing rather than to any inherent qualities of the fish. In many localities little care is bestowed 

 upon them, and the fish are often allowed to become stale before they are salted. Again, they are 

 frequently put upon the market in a half-cured and dirty slate, so that their appearance will 

 prejudice one against them, even though their flavor may not have been seriously impaired. When 

 properly cured they are undoubtedly of excellent flavor, and we see no reason why they will not 

 compare favorably with the Northern mackerel, of which several hundred thousand barrels are 

 consumed annually. 



Up to 1870 no fresh mullet were shipped from Beaufort, N. C., all of those taken, with the excep- 

 tion of the quantity used in the locality, being salted for sale among the farmers in the northeastern 

 portion of the State. It seems that for many years the mullet fishermen of this region, after 

 catching and salting their fish, have been in the habit of hiring vessel-owners to market them. As 

 soon as the fishing season was over, the mullet were loaded upon these vessels, in charge of the 

 captain, who was to exchange them for corn with the farmers living along the banks of the navigable 

 streams tributary to the Carolina sounds. The captain was at liberty to make the exchange upon 

 any basis that he might think proper, but as he was given a percentage usually one-fifth of the corn 

 received for his services, he was apt to drive the best possible bargain. Five bushels of shelled 

 corn for one barrel of mullet was considered a fair exchange, though the price varied somewhat 

 from year to year. Having secured his cargo of fish, he usually set sail for some small town on 

 one of the larger rivers, where he remained until all of the mullet were sold. The arrival of a 

 "mullet-trader" soon becomes known among the residents of any locality, and the farmers of the 

 region at once load their wagons with corn and start for the landing to secure their fish. This 

 practice has continued to the present time, and even now a large percentage of the mullet salted 

 by the fishermen of Core and Bogue Sounds are marketed in this way, only a small part of the 

 catch being sold for cash at Beaufort and Morehead City, though the merchants and others arc 

 anxious to purchase at fair prices. Those marketed in Beaufort are usually shipped by rail to tin- 

 larger cities of Eastern North Carolina or to Norfolk, from which points they are redistributed to 

 the farming districts. Probably nine-tenths of the mullet taken in North Carolina waters aie 

 consumed in the eastern half of that State. When money is received, the price paid to the 

 fisherman is $2.75 to $3.50 per barrel of regulation size, which is supposed to contain 100 pounds 



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of fish. 



In the spring of 1870 a small trade in fresh fish began. This business increased slowly at first, 

 but of late it has grown with remarkable rapidity, and during the year ending with June, 1880, fully 

 40,000 bunches, equal to about 150,000 pounds, of mullet, in addition to large quantities of other 

 fish, were shipped fresh to the larger cities of the Caroliuas and Georgia. The price paid to the 

 fishermen at Beaufort ranges from 2 to 4 cents per pound. 



At Wilmington, as at Beaufort, nearly all of the mullet taken in former years were salted. 

 The farmers of this region made a practice of driving down to the fishing shores each season to 

 obtain their supply for family use. Many of them came a distance of 30 to 40 miles. Some brought 

 corn and other produce to exchange for the fish, while others brought the money with which to 

 purchase them. The price paid averaged about $3 per barrel, less the value of the package, which 

 the farmer usually did not care to purchase. Of late years, owing to the large demand for fresh 

 fish, few mullet are salted in this locality, and it is stated on good authority that during 1879 not 

 over 50 barrels were put up for shipment within a radius of 15 miles of Wilmington, though at 

 distances more remote, owing to a difficulty of marketing the fish fresh, many were salted. The 

 "roe mullet" usually find ready sale at an average of 12 J cents each. The "fat mullet" are 

 strung in bunches of from 2 to 4 each, according to size, and sold at from 15 to 20 cents. A bunch 



