360 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



are polished while you wait. You go to Moonstone 

 Beach in the big glass-bottomed steamers of the 

 Meteor Boat Company and find your moonstones, and 

 for a small sum receive the polished semi-gem before 

 you leave. 



A typical Yankee skipper and a fine old man is a 

 "sand-dabber," who hauls up the succulent flounders 

 from deep water with a winch; another is a grouper 

 fisherman for the market; and on the beach early in 

 the morning you may see Vincente Moriche, who is 

 a bait-catcher, or employs a number of men with 

 seines to accomplish this important work. They also 

 set nets for flying-fishes and others at night. Early 

 in the morning you may see shell-hunters on the beach. 

 They make long strings of shells, and many strings 

 make a portiere worth twenty or even fifty dollars. 

 Sometimes they find a nautilus, and this means from 

 ten to twenty dollars. Then there is the seaweed- 

 hunter, who sells to collectors; the artist who paints 

 jelly-fishes. Another set of men are crayfish-catchers 

 using pots or traps which they set at the various 

 islands, sending the catch to Los Angeles. A big, 

 low power boat which runs into all the nooks and 

 corners is a "sardiner." She nets twenty tons at a 

 time with a big purse-net. These go to the cannery 

 at Los Angeles, across the channel, and are said to 

 be the equal of the Italian and French product. The 

 little settlement of Chinamen of Catalina Harbor 

 catch oil sharks for the livers, which they try out; 

 the fins they send to China. This man who is always 

 poring over the rejectamenta of the fishes has a hobby 

 for collecting eyes and "ear stones." The former are 

 dyed and made into pins; the latter are sold as links 



