37< ; BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



and I think that the Nereocystis is rich with this valuable ingredient. The supply 

 of the raw material is practically unlimited, and if attention shall be directed to 

 the valuable uses to which this plant and other alga- may be put, 1 feel confident 

 that a new and important industry will be developed, and we would all share in the 

 satisfaction of knowing that one more waste product of the ocean can be effectually 

 utilized. 



METHODS OF SECURING HERRINGS, SMELT, AND SARDINES AT PORT 



TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON. 



The water of Port Townsend Harbor is as clear and transparent as the ocean. 

 The only stream flowing into it is the Chemakum Creek, a small fresh-water brook at 

 the southern end of the bay; the water of this creek is of too small volume and not 

 sufficiently rapid to bring down inuddy water and its effects are imperceptible, and 

 the salt water of the bay varies but little in density and temperature from the ocean 

 water at Cape Flattery, a hundred miles west of Port Townsend, and as a conse- 

 quence the ocean fish, in their season, crowd in great masses into the bay and around 

 the wharves where the clear water enables persons standing on the wharf to distinctly 

 see objects at a depth of 25 to 30 feet. 



On a clear still day it is interesting to look down into the transparent water and 

 view the myriads of fish. Cod and salmon abound in the spring and are easily caught 

 with liook and line. The favorite bait for cod is a peculiar kind of a marine worm, 

 which grows in clusters around the piles of the wharf; the bait for salmon is fresh 

 herring. Cod and salmon swim the deepest and can be seen far down below the 

 surface. Above them are the rockfish, then nearer the surface are herring, smelt, 

 and anchovies or sardines. These are in such dense masses or schools that at times 

 the water seems literally packed with them. Then the Indian comes slowly paddling 

 his canoe and ever and anon making a dip with his fish-rake. This consists of a 

 stout pole 15 or 16 feet long, with its lower end flattened like the blade of a paddle, 

 into the edges of which are inserted a row of wooden pegs sharpened, or stout wire. 

 The Indian takes the rake with both hands, as near the top as he can work, then reaches 

 forward as far as he can and makes a swift stroke with the implement through the 

 schools of fish, bringing it up behind him, and with a jerk he shakes off the fish 

 which have been impaled on the sharp points or teeth of his fish-rake and they fall 

 into the canoe. He will bring up from one to a dozen or twenty fish at a stroke, and 

 keeps up the work until his canoe is full. This method has been used by Puget 

 Sound Indians for generations before white men came among them, and long before 

 the use of nets and fishing lines was made known to them, and is still a favorite 

 method for procuring bait. They have, however, acquired the knowledge of making 

 nets, and are expert in making nets and fish lines. 



Formerly the twine for making nets was made of the fiber of the common nettle, 

 and finer thread was made from the Epilobium angustifolum, or fireweed, so common 

 all over the North American continent. The use of these materials seems to be 

 abandoned at present, and is only found among some of the out-of the-way bands of 

 natives on the coast, where occasionally an old woman may be found who prefers to 

 make and use the same material for threads as her ancestors used before the historic 



