40 FISHERMEN OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Avarice of Chinese fishermen. — With ;i view to illustrate the extreme avarice of the 

 Chinese fishermen, as shown by their exclusive use tit' very tine meshed nets, it maybe stated here 

 that the Mexican Government has found it necessary to station a consul at San Diego who is 

 instructed to charge every boat coining in search of abalones $60 per annum, their depredations 

 in this fishery having been so extensive as to almost exterminate the species. 



Surf-fishing. — The peculiar method of surf-fishing at Punta Aloues and Pescadero in vogue 

 amongst the Chinamen is one entirely unknown to American fishermen, and is described by Pro- 

 fessor Jordan, as follows: "At Punta Aloues and Pescadero the Chinese fishermen carry on a 

 fishery for the capture of surf-fish [Embiotoca lateralis, Damalichthys vacea, &c], and their methods, 

 being characteristically oriental, are of much interest to a stranger. The gill-nets are placed 

 among the kelp-covered rocks, not far from shore, and the boat goes around among the nets to 

 frighten the fish into them. The old man plies the oar, sculling the boat. The young man stands 

 in the bow, with a long pole, which he throws into the water at such an angle that it returns to 

 him. The woman sits in the middle of the boat, with the baby strapped on her back. She is 

 armed with two drum sticks, with which she keeps up an infernal racket by hammering on the 

 seat in front of her. This is supposed to frighten the fish so that they frantically plunge into the 

 nets. Occasionally this is varied by the woman taking the oar and the old man the drum-sticks." 



Shrimp and abalone fisheries. — The principal fishing industries engaged in by the 

 Chinese are the capture and preparation of shrimps and abalones. The greater part of the shrimp 

 are dried, threshed, and sent to market. The hulls are shipped to China and sold at $20 a ton for 

 manure. They are considered by the Chinese to be an excellent fertilizer. 



A minor occupation of the Chinese is that of collecting seaweed. 



A colony of Chinamen, numbering perhaps twenty-five men, is located at San Pablo, near the 

 mouth of the Sacramento River, on the bay southwest of San Pablo. They are engaged in shrimp 

 fishing, their methods being the same as those employed by the Chinamen about San Francisco. 



Fishermen's houses. — The houses of the Chiuese colony at Poseville, San Diego, number 

 about ten. They are low, unpainted, dirty-looking buildings, and are surrounded by hen-coops, 

 whose occupants are fed, to a great extent, upon the small fish which the Chinese capture in their 

 fine-meshed seines. 



Characteristics of Californian Chinese, — Tt is noteworthy that the Chinese, perhaps 

 in mistrust of their own race, never consign their fish to Chinese dealers in the cities, preferring 

 to transact business with the Americans. 



A writer in the San Francisco Weekly Bulletin of January 27, 1S71, says of the Chinese fish- 

 ermen of California : 



"The Chinese fisherman in China is very different from the Chinese fisherman of California 

 anil far above him in equipments, habits, and scale of work. Confident of his seamanship and skill 

 he dashes around in his lateen-sailed junk in a reckless manner, and in hours of recreation indulges 

 hisfondness for gambling, while the latter tugs painfully at the oar and finds his brother fisher- 

 men too poor to gamble with him. The Chinaman is a good sailor in his native craft, but in other 

 vessels, when difficult duties are to be performed, needs some one to direct him constantly. 



" On the southern bank', at the entrance of the San Antonio Creek, is a small Chinese settle- 

 ment, consisting of some dozen wooden houses, called China Point. The shores of the creek are 

 covered with smelt and herring, drying in the sun preparatory to being compressed into compact 

 biles to be shipped u\\ ay ; the nets, patched and old, are lying around everywhere drying in the 

 sun, ami the whole is dirty, filthy, ami ill smelling. 



"The fisherman's boat is a long, unwieldy, clumsily constructed craft, with heavy, ill-shaped 



