THE MUSEUM. 



5 



day. When I got them home they 

 were put in a keg of formolin where 

 they still repose. The vitality of this 

 same horse shoe crab in iny opinion 

 throws a mud turtle or the cat with 

 nine lives entirely in the shade. Hav- 

 ing occasion to cut one up, I mad 

 seven distinct pieces of it and still did 

 not apparantly kill it for some time. 

 The eight legs with a portion of the 

 under parts would move about entirely 

 free from the body. 



n.xploring the beach on foot we 

 found many small species of shells 

 alive, and this pond was about the only 

 place we found the razor shell So/i/i 

 i/ist's. They were burrowed in the 

 sand and one would only see a little 

 tip sticking out. In among the sea 

 weeds piled upon the shores from re- 

 cent storms one would find lots of 

 small mollusks of various species, and 

 occasionally skate eggs, strings of peri- 

 winkle eggs, &c. Returning back in 

 the afternoon we found our time fully 

 occupied preparing the crabs, fish, etc., 

 also remo\ ing the animals from the 

 shells, which can be eksily done by 

 first immersing them in boiling water. 

 We had not been in the town 24 

 hours before any number of small boys 

 had made our acc]uaintance and were 

 all eager and willing to collect speci- 

 mens. They knew where to find them 

 and had their own names for them also. 

 As a sample, one afternoon I had been 

 out to the nearest buoy in the bay and 

 cast anchor. Having caught a large 

 mess of scop I thought I would let my 

 line drag near bottom on my return, 

 which I did. I had not gone far be- 

 fore something was tugging at the line, 

 and imagine my surprise when I pulled 

 out a fish about a foot long with wings 

 6 or 7 inches long. As I pulled him 

 over the side of the boat he jumped 

 the hook, and as he struck bottom he 

 raised his head a couple inches from 

 the boat, and begun to grunt at me, 

 quite like a pig. He kept this up for 

 some time. On arriving ashore I put 

 him in with the rest of the fish, and 

 the first small boy I met. asked him 



the name, and he said, "Why, don't 

 you know what that is .' It's a 'grunt- 

 er.' " The next boy I asked said it 

 was a "Methodist minister" and the 

 third a "Flying Kobin." I afterwards 

 found that a grunter was the common 

 name among the tishernien. 



A glance at the harbor about sunset, 

 and one would think something unus- 

 ual was going on, as simply hundreds 

 of sail boats, from the size of the re- 

 gulation Cape Cod Cat Boat to a 

 small row boat, were anchored as far 

 as one could^see. About nine o'clock 

 in the morning these same boat.s will 

 be seen going out up the channel, some 

 after Bluelish, Sword-fish, Mackeral 

 or Cod, but the greater share after 

 "Ouohogs," so called. A single man 

 with a small sail boat, and willing to 

 work at least 6 hours a day, can easily 

 earn $4.00 every day he goes out. In 

 ye olden times it was not uncommon 

 to make $25.00 in a single day and 

 many fortunes were made thereby. 

 The gathering of "Ouohog" clams by 

 these hardy Portugese, as I found they 

 were most all of this nationality, may 

 be described as follows : Arriving on 

 the "fishing grounds " the boat is an- 

 chored at each end in about 6 to 9 

 feet of water. The only implement 

 used is a rake with a handle 25 feet or 

 more long. The rake part is very 

 heavy, weighing fully 30 pounds. It 

 has teeth about 8 inches long and 

 curved; also teeth at each end. When 

 this is dragged on the bottom it combs 

 out all clams of saleable size. When 

 the rake is raised from the bottom, 

 the dirt is rinsed out and the rake will 

 be full of grass, clams, scallops, etc. 

 Usually everything is thrown away but 

 the particular clams wanted As fish 

 dealers at the wharf will buy all clams 

 offered at 65c to $1.00 per bushel, the 

 small ones bringing the highest price, 

 it furnishes employment for many hun- 

 dred men. One would think they 

 would play out after a while, but such 

 does not seem to be the case, for real- 

 ly good clam fishing is found 5 miles 



