NATIONALITY AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 31 



two companies, there being six boats, two nets, and 25 men, the whole is divided into thirty-two 

 shares. The captain sometimes receives one and one-fourth shares. 



Marin and Humboldt Counties, California. — In Marin County there are three points at 

 which Italian fishermen may be found: Point Reyes, where are 2 Italians using one boat; at 

 Marshall's, where 20 Italian fishermen live, using six boats; and on the west side of Tomales Bay, 

 opposite Hamlet, where, there are three companies of fishermen, chiefly Italians, 12 men in all, 

 usiug six boats. They ship their fish to San Francisco. The total number of Italian fishermen in 

 this county is 34. 



About Eureka, Humboldt County, there are 3 Italian fishermen. At certain seasons some of 

 those engaged in Salmon fishing on the Columbia River, Oregon, come down here for a short time 

 and joiu in the fishing. 



Washington Territory and Oregon.— Iu Washington Territory there are 1> Italian fisher- 

 men : 3 at Port Madison, 3 at Utsaladdy, and 3 at Port Townsend, fishing with boat for halibut 

 and dogfish, which they ship to San Francisco or Portland, or else sell in their own town. 



In addition to the numbers of Itilim fishermen above enumerated and distributed, there air 

 800 Italians engaged iu the Columbia River salmon fisheries, and 400 more in other salmon fisheries, 

 including those of Sacramento River in which 345 Italian fishermen are employed. 



These figures give a grand total of 1,513 Italian fishermen in all the regions above discussed. 



20. THE PORTUGUESE FISHERMEN ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



Tiie causes of immigration. — The presence of the Portuguese fishermen in California and 

 New England is explained by Sir C. Wyville Thomson, who, in his " Voyage of the Challenger,"* 

 pointed out the cause of the extensive emigrations of the Poituguese from the Azores shortly after 

 1853: 



"Formerly Pico was the vineyard of the Azores. Previous to the year 1853, 20,000 to 30,000 

 pipes [from 3,000,000 to 4,500,000 gallons] were exported from the island of a dry, rather high- 

 flavored wine, which commanded a fair price in the markets of Europe under the name 'Pico 

 madeira.' In 1853 the wretched Oidium Taekeri devastated the vineyards and reduced the popu- 

 lation of the island, who depended mainly on their wine production for their subsistence, to extreme 

 misery. Nothing would stop the ravages of the fungus. In successive years the crop was reduced 

 to one-fourth, one eighth, one-tenth, and then entirely ceased, and the inhabitants emigrated in 

 great numbers to Brazil and California. Some few attempts have been made to restore the vines, 

 but up to the present time there is practically no manufacture of wine in the Azores." 



Doubtless many of the emigrants also settled in New England, especially the sea-faring portion, 

 where they could have every opportunity of plying their vocation, and their success is referred to 

 iu the article on the Portuguese fishermen of New England, while the agricultural portion settled 

 in Brazil and California, countries in every respect suited to their tastes. 



The Azoreans at home. — The Portuguese, judging from the allusions to some of their pecu- 

 liarities made by the same author iu vol. 2, chap. 1, pp. 45-49, are at home an industrious, unso- 

 phisticated, merry, and extremely religious people. 



"Their industry and simplicity of life are evinced by the neat appearance which pervaded 

 their 'steadings' and their primitive, method of thrashing wheat, which is briefly as follows: The 

 wheat is spread on a baked-clay floor, and two sledges, drawn by a pair of oxen apiece, go round 

 and round ' treading out. the corn.' The operation is accompanied by violent good-natured exertions 



* Voyage of the Challenger, vol. ii, chap. 1, p. 29. 



