BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 5 



lent struggle for liberty, was safely brought to land. Here the foreman 

 of the fishermen dipped out the harvest with purse-nets, and deposited 

 the iish in large baskets, transferring every time hundreds and thou- 

 sands of small, golden-yellow young carp, which measured on an aver- 

 age 5 to 6 centimeters, and occasionally some magnificent food-carp 

 and delicate leather carp. Basket after basket did the men carry up 

 the steep bank, and, separating the large from the small fish, put 

 them in enormous tubs half filled with fresh water, where the little fish 

 remained quiet, gathered iu dense crowds, whilst the large ones, as if 

 by common consent, engaged in a sort of swimming race, swimming 

 invariably to the left, round the tub, after having expressed their first 

 astonishment by standiug on their heads and beating the water with 

 their tails. The next part of the programme was to count the fish, by 

 repeatedly filling a certain standard measure, and thereby calculating 

 the entire quantity. A number of wagons were on haud, each supplied 

 with several fish-kegs half filled with water, and the measuring and 

 loading of the wagons soon commenced, the pond meanwhile having 

 been emptied after seven or eight hauls. All this time the water was 

 being let off. 



Although every one of our party was w T ell supplied with rubber boots 

 and warm clothing, the fine rain and raw air soon seemed to penetrate 

 even the thickest covering. It was, therefore, with no common pleas- 

 ure that we were called on to witness the preparations for an original 

 and savorv meal, which the forester of Mr. von dem Borne cooked with 

 consummate skill, closely following the method employed by the ISTorth 

 American trappers and sportsmen during their camp-life in the vast 

 forests of the Western Hemisphere. Four plump carp were cleaned, 

 washed, well strewed with salt and pepper both on the inside and the 

 outside, and thereupon wrapped — each one separately — in a white sheet 

 of paper well buttered. Bound this a sheet of newspaper was wrapped, 

 the package was for a few moments dipped in cold water, and finally 

 placed on a bed of hot coals of an open fire. Above the four carp came 

 a layer of raw potatoes, which were thus baked in the ashes. The din- 

 ing-room was just as primitive as the preparation for the meal, and con- 

 sisted of an open frame shanty of the simplest construction. In about 

 half au hour the " pepper carps" were ready for the table. Full of their 

 own juice, they formed a most tempting and delicious dish, and being 

 handed round, together with potatoes, on large napkins, satisfied even 

 the most epicurean taste, and were washed down by an excellent bowl 

 of punch (amid great merriment). After the meal we again turned our 

 attention to the fish, which had meanwhile all been placed on the wagons. 

 The result of this forenoon's work was 90,000 small and 528 large carp, 

 this whole enormous number having been produced from 570 large carp, 

 which Mr. von dem Borne had placed in this small pond — not quite as 

 large as the Lustgarten in Berlin — in the beginning of April of the 

 present year — only six to seven months ago. While the 570 large carp 



