MANUFACTURES, ETC. 195 



tributaries of the Columbia have species never caught in any 

 other place. If, then, a million of eggs were hatched at the 

 head waters of the Sacramento River, there would be reason 

 to hope that they would return to spawn there. 



141. Various Sea-fish. The halibut are not sufficiently 

 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 long, with 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 bit- 

 ing 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 off 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. 



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 caught with the trawl-line throughout the year. 

 Soles are caught 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, among 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 



