MANUFACTURES, ETC. 197 



ket alive in smacks, for it loses its delicacy of flavor soon 

 after death. The jewfish is abundant south of Point Concep- 

 tion, and may easily be taken with a hook or harpoon. It 

 spends most of its time at the bottom, in both deep and shoal 

 water, but frequently comes to the surface, and according to 

 report, sleeps there. It also goes into lagoons, and likes to be 

 near the kelp. They grow very large, sometimes to weigh 

 five hundred pounds ; and as their flesh is very good, a profit- 

 able business might be made of fishing for them. 



Sharks are taken by Chinamen for food, and by Americans 

 for their oil. The common sharks caught by the Chinamen, 

 perhaps more properly called " dog-fish," (Acanthea suckleyi, 

 and Triakis fasciatus) are taken in nets during the summer 

 months, and are dried in the sun. They are from three to five 

 feet long, and contain a large amount of meat, which is never 

 eaten by white men, but seems to have favor among the Mon- 

 golians. The fish is cut open by a dexterous and quick stroke 

 of a large knife along the back-bone, and is then dried with- 

 out the use of salt. The fins are considered a delicacy. In 

 Humboldt Bay the true shark, (Notorhynchus maculatus) from 

 five to twelve feet in length, is taken with spears. Three men 

 have a flat-bottomed boat, twenty feet long and four feet wide, 

 with which they go into the shallow waters of the bay, whither 

 the sharks resort in pursuit of the sardines. The liver is taken 

 from the shark, and the remainder thrown away. Each 

 liver yields from one to eight pounds of oil. The spears have 

 a handle eight feet long, which is loose, and comes out of the 

 spear-head after the shark is struck. If the handle were fas- 

 tened in the spear-head, it would be broken by the struggles 

 of the fish. A rope attached to the spear-head suffices to hold 

 him, and by its means he is drawn up to the side of the boat, 

 where he is struck by an axe on the head, and tnus dispatched. 

 The shark season lasts only about two months, during July 

 and August. The oil is used for lubricating the machinery of 

 the saw-mills about the bay, and sells for one dollar per gal- 



