JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 29 



shad. These fish (Chi pea Alosa L.) are found in mill- 

 ions every spring in all the rivers north from Chesa- 

 peake Bay and the Delaware, ascending- high enough 

 to be certain of depositing their eggs in fresh water. 

 In the Hudson they follow the main channel and tribu- 

 taries for a distance of 150 miles from the coast. They 

 come, if the weather is mild, early in April ; cold 

 weather often holds them back until later ; but by the 

 end of April or the beginning of May, the mouths of 

 all the rivers are generally full of them. At this season 

 fishermen line the riverbanks, cast their seines with the 

 flush tide, and at times catch during a running several 

 hundred pounds' worth. The many thousands taken 

 (in all the rivers, inlets, and creeks) amount to a very 

 small part of the host, which apparently begins to be 

 diminished only when, far inland, the danger from nets 

 cannot so easily be escaped in the narrower and shal- 

 lower streams. That they are all caught is not to be 

 believed, although few are seen descending, and those 

 thin and often dead. They are, at their first coming, 

 pretty fat and fullbodied, and it is claimed that as they 

 ascend the better they grow to the taste. They are 

 sought after when the season is young, and the first to 

 appear are costly morsels, but as they become more 

 frequent are seen no longer at fastidious tables. They 

 are also salted * and with careful handling resemble 



* Salted shad are exported to the West Indies as rations for 

 the negroes, but are not greatly in demand there on account 

 of the careless preparation. Herring appear on the coast 

 somewhat later than shad ; they are like the European herring 

 but come neither in as great numbers as shad nor do they 

 ascend the streams so far; they are caught and handled in the 

 same manner as shad. 



