98 With Fish-Lines and Nets 



villages skirting the bay, and the fishermen can 

 get home by train if it is necessary. There is 

 always a safe harbor within twenty minutes' 

 sail. 



Our crabbing is enough of a resource to be 

 worth writing about. After August it is at its 

 best. Then the few summer boarders and cot- 

 tagers who linger after the middle of September 

 join with the native in hunting the scavenger 

 of these waters, counting a day lost which does 

 not bring at least a score of big crabs to an 

 end which I hope is not "something linger- 

 ing." As an earnest believer in the value of 

 the late Mr. Bergh's work, I have tried to find 

 out by experiment exactly how lingering is the 

 death by boiling water to which the crab's 

 preference for stale fish and other bits of kitchen 

 offal finally brings him. Repeated experiments 

 show that death is almost instantaneous, if it is 

 true, as is so often said, that a crab lets go his 

 hold only when dying. In order to clear one's 

 conscience upon this matter it is necessary to 

 submit the crab to what may be extremely 

 painful proceedings. Let a strong crab get a 

 good hold upon a piece of rope or any other 



