72 NEW SOUTH WALES 



this juncture are the poor man's friend, being cheap, rich, palatable, and 

 wholesome ; and were it not for the fact that they offer too abundant a 

 feast during this short season they would be considered one of the most 

 useful fishes of the Colony, and would provide us with large store for 

 the future were advantage taken of the great catches which are so fre- 

 quently made. Salted mullet and smoked mullet are not unknown, and 

 they are excellent too ; and why should there not be kippered and 

 pickled mullet also 1 But the fact is they come and go so very soon 

 that their presence is scarcely recognized till they are nearly gone. 

 During that brief season what myriads could be captured ; five or six 

 boat-loads have been caught at one haul with the seine ; tons upon tons 

 have been surrounded with and the net staked up to keep them from 

 leaping over or from fear that some of them would get on the cork line 

 and keep it down. Most assuredly at such a time the rush would be so 

 great, and a general follow-my-leader take place, like a flock of sheep, 

 that it could rise no more till the last had passed. 



" The great weight of this multitude of fishes in the net when it is called 

 a large haul necessitates the cutting of a wing from the net wherewith 

 to sweep ashore from the great bulk what might be required. At one 

 time there was no difficulty in getting cured mullet ; experiments have 

 also been tried by boiling them down, when it was ascertained that each 

 mullet yielded nearly a pint of fine clear oil. These fishes are very fat, and 

 independent of what is contained disseminated throughout the body there 

 is one solid piece, a huge flare, a kind of magazine, whei'ein tlie fish 

 draws nourishment diiring its migration, and which comes away separate 

 and yields a large proportion of the oil. Boiled mullet, soused mullet, 

 or choice fresh fillets fried, are very good, and in my estimation the 

 ' sea or sand mullet' during their season are not excelled by any of the 

 fishes of the Colony. The question might be asked, ' what becomes of 

 those not sold V and may be as readily answered, thrown away to 

 drift out with the tide, or to feed the sharks. At one time they were used 

 as manure, but now that appears to be too much trouble. A few boat- 

 loads stall the market, and there is no outlet for the sm^plus ; the fishei'- 

 man's harvest, as it used to be called, has lost its name and prestige, 

 Dui'ing the migrations of these fishes they are followed by large sharks, 

 as well as by other carnivora, and when they come into shallow water 

 great rushing about is caused by these attendants. These mullet will 

 not take a bait, and the means employed to captui-e them is by net. The 

 aboriginals used to build weirs in the mouths of small creeks, when they 

 found that the mullet had gone up, and used their spears to procure suffi- 

 cient for a greasy banquet ; the feast was theirs, and there they remained 

 for weeks till surfeited with the gorge. It has been argued, and perhaps 

 with some degree of truth, that these identical fishes go high up the 

 rivers and creeks at spawning season to deposit their ova in mere brackish 

 water, and in due course, when such ova comes into existence, the young 

 fry remains. Certain, however, in fresh water, high up the Hawkes- 

 bury, and in the eastern and south creek tributaries to the same river, 

 adult fishes, with all the characteristics of the sea or sand mullet, have 

 been caught by nets placed across the stream or the more still water- 

 holes and reaches of the creeks. These fishes will not take a bait, and 

 it was usual for the aboriginals, when a net had been so placed, to go 

 into the water above that position and drive them towards its meshes. 



