110 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



have perished with time, we still have the hooks, sometimes of stono 

 and sometimes of bone, of shell, or of metal, and usually constituting 

 very attractive objects of archaeological research. Usually the barb of 

 the hook is on the inner or concave line. A curious anomaly, however, 

 in this respect, is seen in the hooks of the prehistoric tribes of the coast 

 of Lower California, which, whether made of bone or of shell (sometimes 

 of extreme artistic beauty), invariably have the barb on the outer or con- 

 vex outline. Sometimes the barb is dispensed with entirely, with or 

 without some device to occupy its place and function. 



The hook and line, whether in the hand or affixed to the end of a rod, 

 is the simplest of all methods for capturing fish, and the one most uni- 

 versally employed. Where fish are abundant it will generally take a 

 sufficiency for all ordinary purposes, although where a large market is 

 to be supplied it is not wholesale enough for the requirement. It does 

 not waste the fish as much as other methods, and has especially the ad- 

 vantage of seldom taking those about to spawn, most species refusing, 

 when in this condition, to be allured by the bait. There are some fish, 

 indeed, which cannot be induced to take the hook at any time, and of 

 course we have to depend on other methods, especially the net, in one 

 form or another, for capturing them. 



The trawl-line. — Where fish are needed in larger number than they 

 can be taken by the hand-line, with a given number of persons, and 

 where distant markets, rather than the local consumption, are to be pro- 

 vided for, what is called the trawl-line comes efficiently into play. This 

 term, however, is applied to it only in the United States, where it is 

 sometimes called the " set-line." On the continent of Europe it is 

 known as the "long-line," while in England it is called the " bultow," and 

 one variety of it, the "spiller." It consists of a long line, having fast- 

 ened to it at regular intervals, usually G feet, a succession of short lines, 

 usually about 3 feet in length, and having hooks at the ends. The an- 

 tiquity of the trawl or long-line is probably very great, the period of its 

 first introduction into Europe not being anywhere a matter of record. 

 It was first used in North America on the banks of Newfoundland for 

 sea fishing by the French. Its introduction to the main land of the 

 provinces and of the United States has been somewhat more recent, 

 although now it is very generally made use of. 



According to Captain Atwood,* the use of trawl-lines was first intro- 

 duced into Massachusetts by a number of Irish fishermen of Galway, 

 who settled on Cape Cod. Their success with this novel apparatus was 

 so great as to induce its immediate adoption by the native population. 



There has been a singular antagonism on the part of those who use 



* Writing of the occurrences of the year 1st:!, Captain Atwood says: "About this 

 time we began setting trawls for halibut, as lias been described elsewhere." Capt. 

 Peter Sinclaii', of Gloucester, claims to have been the fust to use trawls in Massachu. 

 setts Bay, about 1850, and makes the statement that a man named Atwood, who be- 

 longed at Provincetown, and was with him at the time, afterwards introduced the 

 method of trawling in that place. 



