APPARATUS USED IN CAPTURING FISH. 



265 



The Pot, Bold, or Crib, (Fig. 7.)— The pot is iu the shape of a room, having four walls 

 and a floor. It is thirty feet stpiare, and, iu height, extends from the bottom to three 

 feet above the surface. Iu the middle of the side next tlie heart is an opening ten feet 

 wide and sixteen feet high, beginning at the bottom, iu which is placed the tunnel. A 

 pile is driven ou the outside, at each corner, and one iu the middle, on three sides, 

 while ou the heart side there are two, ten feet apart and teu feet from the corners. To 

 all the piles, but the two mentioned, the net is made fast at the top by three-feet guys ; 

 at the bottom of each pile is snuk a stoue of from seventy-five to eighty pounds' weight, 

 and ou the top of tlie stoue is lashed a bull's-eye, (Fig. 10,/.) A rope tied to the hot; 

 toni of the net, opposite the stoue, is rove through the bull's-eye and passes upward 

 to the top of the pile, where the end is nuide Pj„ jj 



first, leaving i)lenty of slack. When tlie uet o 

 is set, the ropes are ha n led taut ami secured 

 by half-hitches to a pin driven into the top 

 of the pile, which serves also to coil up the 

 slack. The mesh of the pot is froiu one and 

 a half to three aud one-quarter inches. 



.)- 



-The tunnel is a 

 FiK. 10. 



The Tunnel, (Figs, v, r 

 netting, shaped some- 

 thing like a truncated 

 cone. Its longer end is 

 fitted aud laced into the 

 sides of the opening {el, 

 fig. 8) in the heart side 

 of the pot. The sujaller 

 end projects into the 

 pot about sixteen feet 

 and uarrows to its out- 

 let, an opeiiing two and 

 one-half feet by six, (/(, 

 fig. 9.) Short sticks are 

 attached to the upper 

 and lower sides of the 

 outlet, having small bri- 

 dles to which lines are 

 made fast. The lower 

 one is rove through a 

 hole in a cleat {(j, fig. 10) 

 uailed to the side of the 

 middle pile, opposite the 

 tunnel outlet, and at 

 live feet from the bot- 

 tom, and from there 

 passes upward to the 

 top of the pile,wherethe 

 end is made fast, leav- 

 ing plenty of slack. The 

 upper line passes di- 

 rectly to the top of the 

 pile. When hauled taut 

 they keep the tunnel 

 standing open, for the 

 free passage of the fish. 



In thesidesof the tun- 

 nel entrance are fast- 

 ened hoops, five ou each 

 side. These hoops are 

 put over the top of the 



adjacent piles, aud al- "-""^ " 



low the net to slide up aud down readily, when the tunnel is closed for the purpose of 

 taking out the fishes, and again when' it is reset. To the bottouj hoop is fastened a 

 slender p(de, called the shover, (c, fig. 11,) for use iu closing and opeuiug the tunnel 

 entrauce. The mesh of the tunnel is the same as that of the pot. 



How the fishes get u;.— The schools of fishes, in moving along near the shore, find the 

 long leader obstructing their way, and although the meshes are large enough for them 

 to pass through, so wary aud cautious are their instincts that they will not come iu 

 contact with the uet, but swim within a few inches of it, out from the shore, until they 

 enter the heart. 



At first sight the heart would appear of unnecessary dimensions, but it is contrived 

 iu accordance with a knowledge of the habits of the fish, which are not inclined to 



lllj! 



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