[75] MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF THE SWORD-FISHES. 363 
to 200; the number of men employed for shorter periods it seems scarcely 
necessary to estimate. 
In 1874 the annual catch for the United States was estimated by Mr. 
KE. G. Blackford at 2,000 fish, weighing 1,000,000 pounds. 
M.—ECONOMICAL USES AND THE MARKETS. 
60.—SWORD-FISH AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD. 
“The small Sword-fish is very good meat,” remarked Josselyn, in 
writing of the fishes of New England in the seventeenth century. Since 
Josselyn probably never saw a young Sword-fish, unless at some time 
he had visited the Mediterranean, it is fair to suppose that his informa- 
tion was derived from some Italian writer. 
It is, however, a fact that the flesh of the Sword-fish, though some- 
what oily, is a very acceptabte article of food. Its texture is coarse; 
the thick, fleshy, muscular layers cause it to resemble that of the hali- 
but in consistency. Its flavor is by many considered fine, and is not 
unlike that of the bluefish. Its color is gray. The meat of the young 
fish is highly prized on the Mediterranean, and is said to be perfectly 
white, compact, and of delicate flavor.* Sword-fish are usually cut up 
into steaks, thick slices across the body, and may be broiled or boiled. 
Considerable quantities of Sword-fish are annually salted in barrels in 
Portland, Gloucester, Boston, New Bedford, and New London. Sword- 
fish pickled in brine is in considerable demand in certain sections of the 
country, and particularly in the Lower Connecticut Valley, where a bar- 
rel may be found in almost every grocery store. By many persons it 
is considered much more palatable than salted mackerel. The follow- 
ing table gives the amounts of Sword-fish, by barrels, pickled and in- 
spected in Massachusetts from 1805 to 1877. It will be observed that 
before 1839 none were packed. In 1872, 1,245 barrels, or 249,000 pounds, 
were put up. The average amount to the year is 93,490 pounds, or 
about 467 barrels; the total for the thirty-nine years, 3,645,732 pounds: 
*The flesh, which is much esteemed by the better classes at Palermo, is dressed in 
almost as many modes as that of the tunny, and fetches a higher price. During our 
sojourn there it was as two to one, the price of the first averaging four pence per 
robolo, while the poroua: of the latter were disposed of at two pence or two pence-half- 
penny. The fiber is invitingly white, aud the round segments look, as they lie in rows 
along the stalls, like so many fillets of veal. Four to six feet is the usualrun of those 
taken off the Trinzrian coast and displayed in the fish markets of Sicily.—Badham. 
