364 WHALING AND FISHING. 



commences in the latter part of March, when the 

 mackerel first return to our coasts from their 

 winter's absence in more southern waters, and 

 lasts until the end of November. At that time 

 the fish and of course their pursuers also havi 

 made the entire circuit of our eastern coast, froir 

 the capes of Delaware, off which they are first seen 

 in early spring, to the extreme borders of Maine 

 and the bays of British America, and back again 

 as far as the headland of Cape Cod. Thence the 

 fish about Thanksgiving Day take their final 

 departure for their as yet undiscovered winter 

 quarters. 



All attempts made by enterprising fishermen 

 co follow the mackerel, after they leave "the 

 Cape," have hitherto proved utterly futile, every 

 trace of the vast school which annually congre- 

 gates there being invariably lost within fifty miles 

 of the south shoals of Nantucket. Many different 

 surmises have been offered to account for their sud- 

 den disappearance, and various theories started by 

 those curious in such matters, to explain the why 

 and wherefore of the eccentric motions of a school 

 of mackerel. But the matter is apparently just 

 as much in the dark as ever, and their disappear 

 ance about Thanksgiving time remains as much 

 a subject for speculation as the similar annual 

 disappearance of swallows. Many, wise in such 

 matters, think that the fish, after leaving OUT 

 coast, lie at the bottom of the sea, in compara- 

 tively shoal water, in a s f ate of stupefaction until 



