THE FOOD FISHES OF ALASKA. 379 
the latter part of September northwest winds and fine weather are the 
rule. Later in the season heavy southerly gales occur. Notwithstanding 
the weather, which much resembles that of the Newfoundland banks, 
there is no serious obstacle to drying and salting the fish ashore, as on 
the Labrador coasts. The folly of statements to the contrary is ¢vident, 
when we recollect that the principal dependence of the large native 
population in winter consists of fish dried without salt during the sum- 
mer season. It may be safely estimated that not less than five hundred 
thousand fish are annually dried in this way for winter use; indeed, 
Russian statistics show that, in a single season, at one station alone, over 
four hundred thousand were thus prepared. The Aleuts and other 
tribes fish for cod with a large hook made of wood and barbed with bone, 
lashed on with seal-skin thongs, and with a line of the twisted fibers of 
the Macrocystis, or giant kelp, which often grows to the length of one 
hundred and fifty feet. 
The supply from the Alaska banks has stopped the importation of 
codfish from the eastern ports into San Francisco, and much larger ex- 
ports may be expected, when the curing process is properly understood 
and carried out. The yearly supply from the Atlantic States was for- 
merly about five hundred tons. The fish were not cured upon the 
Aleutian Islands, because the territory belonged to Russia, but were 
kept in salt about six months, or until the return of the vessel to San 
Francisco, evidently to the injury of the cargo. Many of the persons 
engaged in the fishery knew nothing of the proper method of curing and 
preparing the fish, yet the prices commanded were from 74 to 13 cents 
per pound in gold; in February, 1868, the average rate was 9 cents per 
pound. One vessel carried a full cargo direct to Australia, and received 
8 cents per pound. The price in 1870 averaged 7 to 83 cents per pound 
in gold. New cargoes of fish have been disposed of as high as 13 cents 
per pound. In the quarter ending June 30, 1868, five hundred and 
twenty-one hundred-weight of fish were exported from San Francisco to 
New York. These exports are constantly on the increase, and San 
Francisco, at this moment, supplies the Sandwich Islands, Australia, 
and the entire west coast of North and South America, with the pro- 
duct of her fisheries. Many Cape Ann and Gloucester fishing schooners 
have gone around Cape Horn, and are now plying their vocation in the 
North Pacific. The total amount of fish imported from foreign waters 
into the United States during the eight months ending August 31, 1867, 
was nine hundred and ninety-four thousand nine hundred and eighty- 
eight pounds; for the same period of 1868 it was nine hundred and 
twenty-seven thousand five hundred and forty pounds; and the value 
of cod imported during the quarter ending June 30, 1868, was $119,127. 
These facts show abundant room for the extension of the fisheries in 
American waters. It is to be regretted that since the purchase of the 
Territory of Alaska no exact record of the imports of fish has been 
kept, as they come under the head of coastwise trade. The immense 
catch of 1867 temporarily overstocked the market, which will account 
for the fewer vessels employed in 1868; yet this fact stimulated foreign 
merchants, and ‘the result has been a large and rapidly increasing ex- 
port trade. . 
No tongues and sounds and but little cod-liver oil have been saved. 
In 1866 ten thousand galions of eod-liver oil were reported. There is 
no doubt that this amount will, in future, be largely increased. The 
following is the extent and value of the Pacific cod-fishery since its 
origin, estimated from all the available sources of information, and with 
the valuation computed from the average of the rates for the season: 
