304 



SCOMBEROIDES. 



employment to thousands, who could not contribute 

 to the general prosperity of the state in any oth- 

 er way.* 



The thousands of barrels annually exported to 

 the West Indies, give peculiar activity to our 

 commerce. 



THE SURMULLET, Mullus Surmuletus, a 

 variety of the mackerel, was held in the high- 

 est possible estimation by the Romans, those 

 princes of good living. Pliny says that a Ro- 

 man Consul paid for only one of them, a sum 

 equal to $216,68, and Suetonius furthermore re- 



* The following is the number of barrels of mackerel pack- 

 ed in this state during the last twentysix years. The 

 halves are reduced to whole barrels. 



* The first year after the dMsion of the States from Maine. 



