282 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



days' trip are laid in. This last is to the Italian a labor of love. Big, 

 round loaves of* bread, numerous demijohns of red wine, coffee, fresh 

 meat, and saltlish — salt fish, when tons of fresh tish are to be caught! — 

 are stowed in the larder, and charcoal for the little cooking' furnace is 

 always taken. But this fare is uot all. If the weather permits, the boats 

 during the trip are run in near shore, and a landing is made by the 

 small boat at some convenient ranch where eggs, butter, milk, and 

 chickens can be bought or exchanged for fresh fish. These fishermen 

 live well and drink enormous quantities of red wine. Their duties 

 generally keep them wet through whenever they are on deck, and they 

 feel the need of something warming when they go below to the snug- 

 little forecastle, where dry clothing and the little furnace are not always 

 enough to counteract the effect of the cold and wet on deck. The trips 

 outside cannot be prolouged over three or four days, for the goods they 

 drag from the depths are perishable, and a run in to the market must 

 be made whether the forward hold is filled or only half filled with 

 fish. 



When the wharf is reached the fish are assorted, placed in the small 

 open boxes such as are commonly seen in the fish- market stalls, weighed, 

 marked, and piled up iu the market on the wharf, ready for the next 

 morning's sales. The wharf fish market is- the earliest-opened place of 

 business iu the city. Every weekday it is opened between 2 and 3 o'clock 

 in the morning, except on Friday, when the sale begins at 1 o'clock in 

 the morning. The market men and peddlers are the only purchasers. 

 Caterers for hotels and big restaurants are commonly supposed to buy 

 at the wharf market, but this is a mistake, as that market sells only 

 to middlemen. Each boat has a representative iu the market, and 

 every Saturday night he divides the proceeds of the week's sales among 

 his partners. The sales of fish at this market amount to 50,000 pounds 

 per day, and sometimes more on Friday morning and somewhat less 

 upon other mornings. 



The Italian Fishermen's Association rents the wharf from the State, 

 and each boat is assessed a dollar a month to pay the rent and other 

 expenses incident to the place. Besides the market the association 

 maintains a " boiler house," where the nets and lines of the fishermen 

 are boiled with oak bark, and has means for hauling the boats out of 

 the slip and on the wharf up a broad gangway leading down into the 

 water. Although the new slip and wharf are more commodious than 

 the old, the Italians do not like the place well, and for a characteristic 

 reason : it is more exposed, and therefore more windy and cold. They 

 do not growl at the wind and water and cold while outside in their 

 boats, but in port they want calm and warmth, where cigarette smoking 

 and gossiping may be indulged in under the most favorable circum- 

 stances. But this objection will be obviated iu time, as the uew land 

 made by the filling in of the sea-wall and back of it will soon be built 

 up with warehouses, and the present quarters will be well sheltered. 



