HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 79 



In his deposition to Professor Buird, August 3, 1871, Capt. Natbanael 

 Smith, an aged Newport fisherman, gave the following testimony : 

 " Menhaden are decreasing too. In 1819 I saw a school of menhaden 

 out at sea, when I was goiug to Portland, that was two miles wide and 

 forty miles long. I sailed through them. Wo were out of sight of land. 

 They ajjpeared to be all heading southwest. There were no fish near 

 them. I have seen a school on this coast three miles long. I think 

 they spawn in April and May."* 



Dr. DeKay, in his "Natural History of New York," says of this fish that, 

 "although it is seldom eaten, as it is dry, without flavor, and full of bones, 

 yet it is one of the most valuable fish found in our waters. They appear 

 on the shores of Long Island about the beginning of June, in immense 

 schools ; and as they frequently swim with a part of the head above or 

 near the surface of the water, they are readily seen and captured. They 

 are commonly sold on the spot at the rate of $2 the wagon-load, contain- 

 ing about 1,000 fish. The largest haul I remember to have heard of 

 was through the surf at Bridgehampton, at the east end of the island. 

 Eighty-four wagon-loads, or, in other words, 81,000, of these fish were 

 taken at a single haul." 



Mr. George H. Cook, writing in 1857, thus speaks of the abundance of 

 menhaden on the coast of New Jersey: 



"The moss-bonker (the Alosa menhaden, or Clnpea menhaden), or, as it 

 is sometimes called, bony-fish, menhaden, and other names, is an abun- 

 dant fish in all the waters of this part of the State. It is frequently 

 seen in immense shoals, fairly blackening the water for many miles. It 

 is easily caught, and in large quantities at once. Mr. John Stikes, 

 sen., of Beesley's Point, with his brother, some years since, caught, in 

 a ninety-fathom net, thirty two-horse wagon-loads, at four hauls, tak- 

 ing fourteen of the loads at a single haul. Last summer, in a trip 

 through the sounds from Beesley's Point to Cape Island, we passed 

 through water filled with these fishes. Many of them swam so near 

 the surface that their back fins projected above it ; and the appearance 

 of the water was entirely changed by the slight ripple they made In 

 moving. They were most abundant then in the vicinity of Hereford in- 

 let; but they are found near all the shores; and the only limit to the 

 amount which can be taken is in the ability to take care of them when 

 caught. Sixty wagon -loads, of at least 2,500, fish eacb, were taken at 

 one haul in Earitan Bay this season." 



17. — Abundance in the present. 



On the coast of Maine. 



104. Mr. W. H. Sargent considers thepogy the most numerous fish on the 

 coast of Maine. Their capture affects their abundance in the coves and 

 rivers and along the shore, though not outside. In 1873, Friend & Co., 



* Report ot the Commissioner of Fish aud Fishi-ries, lh71~'/2, p. 21. 



