A 



330 NATURAL HISTORY. 



he was fast upon the hook. ... It seems probable that the pilot feeds on 

 the shark's excrements, keeps his company for that purpose, and directs 

 his operations solely from this selfish view." 



Very different in importance is the mackerel, which formerly each spring 

 made its appearance in immense numbers on our coasts. Where it spends 

 the winter is unknown. Some claim that it hibernates in the mud ; but 

 others, with more probability, believe that it retires to deep water during 

 the cold months. As soon as it appears, the fishing begins ; at first, to the 



south, and then it grad- 

 ually works north. The 

 methods of fishing are 

 by seines and by hooks. 

 The seines are large nets, 

 the largest being a quar- 

 ter of a mile Ions, and 



Fig. oil. — Mackerel (Scomber scomber). ° 



twenty fathoms deep. Its 

 upper edge is buoyed with corks, or glass floats ; while the lower is 

 weighted with lead. 



Far more exciting is the hooking, and the favorite bait is made from 

 the silvery skin of the mackerel itself. When the mackerel begins to bite 

 well, the excitement runs high. Each fisherman wants to rank first, and 

 he works with all his might. He manages ten or twelve lines, and as fast 

 as he catches the fish, he slings them into a barrel. The work is very 

 hard, and the novice, kept up by excitement for a while, with tired muscles 

 and blistered hands, at last has to give in. Not so the fisherman ; he 

 works as long as the mackerel bites, and in some cases a single fisherman 

 has caught ten or fifteen barrels in a day, each of which will hold from a 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred fish. 



The fish are largely sold in the markets in the fresh condition, while 

 still more are packed in salt for shipment to the interior, where the barrels 

 and i kits ' form a feature in every grocery store. The fish to be salted 

 are split open, cleaned of the viscera, and then thrown into tubs of water 

 and washed, and then are packed in barrels with salt, — one barrel of salt 

 to every four barrels of fish. Later they are selected into ' grades,' accord- 

 ing to size and condition. The disappearance of the mackerel for several 

 years past has no explanation. 



A near relative of the mackerel is the tunny of Europe, the horse-mack- 

 erel of the American shores. It is one of the largest of fishes, attaining a 

 weight of fifteen hundred pounds. In America its dark flesh is despised, 

 and the fish is caught only for the oil, of which it may yield over twenty 

 gallons. In the countries bordering on the Mediterranean it is held in 

 high esteem. 



