OTHER BRAXCHES OF INDUSTRY. 315 



Indians, sell fresh salmon during the season when fishinsr with 



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the net is prohibited. There is no legal prohibition against 

 taking other jSsh, or shell-fish at any season of the year. 



The haUbut are not sutficientlv abundant on the coast to 

 make the fishery for them a distinct branch of business. They 

 are caught with a hook at sea in water varying from thirty to 

 fifty fathoms deep, on rocky bottoms. The line called a " trawl- 

 line" is about six hundred yards along, w^ith numerous short 

 lines and hooks, and is left six or eight hours in a place, and 

 when drawn up has halibut, flounders, rock-fish, turbot, cod, 

 and nearly all the large biting fish that come to the market. 

 The bait used is chiefly sardines and herrings. 



The mackerel {Scomber diego)^ a good fish, but smaller than 

 the Atlantic mackerel, is caught with a hook ofiT the coast 

 south of Point Conception. It is a surface fish, and bites 

 greedily at a bit of white rag or shining fish-skin jerked 

 through the water. It does not frequent bays, but is caught 

 in the harbors of Catalina Island. A number of vessels are 

 now emploved in the mackerel fisherv of California. 



The little brown rock-fish [Sebastes auriculatiis\ is caught 

 in San Francisco Bay about the wharves ; but the other 

 species are only found out in the open sea. They stay 

 where the bottom is rocky, eat crabs and shell-fish, and bite 

 freely at hooks. Most of them are caught near Punta Reyes 

 and the Farallone Islands. The rock-fish are in the market 

 and of equally good quality throughout the year. 



The turbot is cansrht with the trawl-line throng^hout the 



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vear. Soles are cauorht with small mesh-nets in the shallow 

 waters of the bay of San Francisco at all seasons of the year. 

 There is no separate fishery for them ; they are caught with 

 numerous other species of small fishes, amon^^ which the 

 smelts have an important place. The smelts are much more 

 abundant than on the Atlantic coast, go in large shoals, and 

 are caught at all seasons. A large business might be done in 

 salting them, but they are caught only for the fresh market. 

 The anchovies are very numerous in San Francisco Bay, where 



