APPARATUS USED IN CAPTURING FISH. 2G7 



wiuter on accouDt of tbeir almost certain destrnction by storms and 

 tioating- ice. Tliey are i)iled up in the autumn and stored for use in the 

 coming season. Sometimes they are set in large stones, about four feet 

 square, and simply set on the bottom. This method is used on Prince 

 Edward's Island, as iu the pound of Mr. J. C. Hall of Charlottetowu. 



Not unfrequently the heart-pounds are so arranged that a second 

 leader is started in a line with the first, running out from the outer side 

 of the bowl to a given distance, and another heart and bowl attached, 

 so as to cover a much larger portion of the channel-way. This is seen 

 in the pound at Waquoit, Massachusetts, for a lucid description of which, 

 with accompanying illustrations, I am indebted to the report of Theodore 

 Lyman. 



A pound or weir is an old and singular contrivance, whose success depends upon the 

 fatal principle of fishes never to turn a sharp corner. A place is chosen where it is 

 known that large schools are accustomed to coast along, parallel with the shore, and 

 there a barrier is run out in a straight line. This barrier is called the "leader," and 

 may be a stone wall, a fence of laths or of brush, or a net stretched on poles. At the 

 euti. of this leader, and like a spear-head on its handle, is constructed a heart-shaped 

 iuclosure or "pound" (or "heart") having a narrow opening, on either side, next the 

 point of the leader. On its off-shore end this heart again opens into a circular inclos- 

 ure called the "bowl." A school coasting along shore is suddenly stopped by the 

 leader, and immediately the fish turn toward deep water, and, swimming parallel with 

 the barrier, pass into the heart, whence there is no escape save by a sharp backward 

 turn, which, as before stated, is agaiust their principle. Therefore they swim round 

 and round and pass into the bowl, where they are left by the tide, or, if the bowl be in 

 deep water, they are hauled up by a net-bottom. 



The Waquoit weir is made like many of the same sort. About the middle of March, 

 if the weather permits, the meu begiu'to set the poles which are to support the "lint'" 

 as the netting is called. First a row of stout poles, or rather j)osts, running straight 

 out, is firndy set by a floating pile-driver. The poles stand fifteen feet apart, and run 

 directly seaward for seven hundred and fifty feet, to make the first "leader," (Fig. 13, 

 I, g,) which here stops short at the mouth of the " heart," /*, whose outline is marked out 

 by the same kind of poles set nearer together, or about ten feet apart. The entrance 

 to the heart is twenty-live feet wide on each side of the leader, or fifty wide in the 

 whole ; but it converges strongly toward its outer apex, so that the entrance to the 

 " bowl" is only seven feet wide. This bowl, i, is marked out, like the heart, with poles 

 set somewhat close together. Moreover, from its east side projects a sort of lobe, 

 eighteen feet wide and thirty-six long, k, indicated by the five poles which are to sup- 

 port this "pocket" wherein fish may be kept alive. From the outer point of the bowl 

 another row of leader-poles is driven, running seaward four hundred and fifty feet; 

 and, at its extremity, posts are driven for the second heart, bowl and pocket, like the 

 first. Then the lint is carried out in boats and hung on the leader-posts. It is com- 

 posed of a pretty strong net, with a mesh of two and a half to three inches. Along 

 its foot, where are placed the leads of a seine, there is made fast a chain ; while along 

 its upper edge runs an inch rope, (i. e., an inch in circumference.) As the net is passed 

 on alternate sides of the succeeding poles, a round turn is taken with the rope to hold 

 it in place, while the chain, sinking to the bottom, maintains the lint in an upright po- 

 sition and closes the spaces between the poles, (13, IV.) The heart is hung with lint 

 in the same way, but the bowl must be differently treated, for the bowl-net has a bot- 

 tom as well as sides. It is in fact a great bag, forty feet long, eighty wide, and fifteen 

 or twenty deep, and is hung in an oval of poles, fifty feet long and one hundred wide. 

 For this purpose a one and a quarter inch rope runs, like a binding, entii'ely around 

 the upper edge of the bowl-net, (Fig. II,) and opposite each pole there is made fast to 

 this rope a head-line (13, II, a) whose other end is attached to the pole. These head- 

 lines suspend the bowl-net, which cannot, however, be held down by chains or weights, 

 because these would make it too heavy to handle when the weir is "hauled." There- 

 fore there are bottom-lines (13. II, b) corresponding to the head-lines, except that they 

 are attached to the lower edge of the bowl-net, whence they pass through a hole in the 

 pole, are brought to the surface of the water, and are there made fast. When, now, 

 the head-lines and bottom-lines are hauled taut and made fast, the bowl-net must be 

 firmly set iu position, namely, projecting about five feet above the water, and ex- 

 tending thence nearly or quite to the bottom. It remains only to show how the fish 

 are admitted to the bowl and how the fatal door is closed on tliem. On either side 

 of the entrance to the bowl stands a post, (13, III, c,) and, beside it, a long, slender 

 pole (13, III. d) attached by rings (13, III,/e) to the post, but free to run up and 

 down. The lower end of the pole is tied to the lower part of the bowl-net, and by 



