ATKINS THE SALMON AND ITS ARTIFICIAL CULTUEE. 305 



heads into the meshes in the endeavor to break through the net. A 

 considerable number of these nets are every summer in use on the shal- 

 low rapids below the Great Works, Basin Mills, and Veazie dams. Oc- 

 casionally one of them is used at some point above Oldtown. The Mat- 

 tagamon, near the mouth of the Wassaticook, is one of these points ; the 

 North Twin dam is another. 



The pouud-net, in use on the Penobscot, consists of the " run," the "in- 

 ner pound,^' and the '' outer pound." The run is a straight net, running 

 out into the water at right angles to the shore. It is 11 or 12 feet deep, 

 and its length depends somewhat on the character of the site ; 25 fath- 

 oms is the common length, but in very "bold" water 18 or 20 fathoms 

 will answer. At the extremity of the run is the inner pound, which 

 is shaped like an obtuse arrow-head, the two barbs being styled "hooks.'' 

 The entrance of this inner pound, 6 feet wide, is between the barbs or 

 " hooks," and at its tip is an opening 1 foot wide, which leads into the outer 

 pound, an iuclosure about 18 feet square. Both pounds have bottoms, 

 and are of the same depth as the run, 11 or 12 feet. The whole is sup- 

 ported by wooden floats, so that it rises and falls with the tide, and is 

 held in place by anchors planted at the extremities of long " warps.' 

 A pole placed perpeudicularlj^ at the point of each hook, and another 

 at the outer angle of the outer pound, brace the bottom down. The 

 latter is called the "spring-pole," and, in "springing" the net, it is cast 

 loose at the upper end and allowed to swing loose while the bottom of 

 tbe pound is drawn up. The mesh employed is 6 or GJ inches long, 

 being 3 or 3;^ inches square. The 6^-inch mesh*is too small to mesh 

 a 22-pound salmon and too large to catch one of 6 pounds. It is sup- 

 posed that if small salmon ever enter these nets, they pass out through 

 the meshes. The majority of the medium-sized and large salmon 

 do not mesh but remain free in the pound, being too wary to strike 

 the meshes. The bottom of the net is commonly several fathoms above 

 the ground ; and were not the salmon that encounter its run persistent 

 surface-swimmers, they would dive under it, and escape without enter- 

 ing the pounds. 



Tlie three parts first described constitute what the fishermen call a 

 "hook of nets." Sometimes from the outer extremity another " run " 

 is set, with pounds at the end of it, constituting another "hook of nets," 

 and this combination is termed a " gang of nets." Sometimes as many 

 as four hooks are set in a single gang.* 



The invention of this style of net is ascribed by the fishermen to one 

 Halliday, an Englishman. The net in use before it had only one pound, 

 corresponding to the inner pound. It was much inferior to the modern 

 style, as a great many salmon escaped by the entrance, which had to be 

 wide to induce them to enter at all, and in this way the very largest 

 salmon were lost, being too large to mesh. 



A Penobscot fish-weir generally consists of a leader and three pounds. 

 * lUustrationa of these nets are given in the appended plates. 



S. Mis. 74 20 



