4o6 HISTORY OF C OH ASSET. 



hole had two bunks and a locker for clothes. Some of the 

 salt used was made upon our own beaches, as we shall see, 

 but it had to be supplemented by Liverpool salt bought in 

 Boston. 



With aching backs, and hands well roughed by our steve- 

 doring, we crowd into the owner's store to get a new tar- 

 paulin hat and leather boots, charged to our accounts as 

 prospective partners in the fishing cruise. The men who 

 have families get, in addition to hat and boots, a long strip 

 of salt pork weighing ten or fifteen pounds, with which to 

 feed their families while the men are off at sea. As we 

 make our way homeward the neighbors are sure to see the 

 big yellow tarpaulin upon our heads and to talk about our 

 fishing venture. 



Thus the vessel having been fitted out, the next day 

 the men get their outfit. A little firkin of tea, a box of 

 "hard bread," two gallons of vinegar, a keg of rum hold- 

 ing three or four gallons, and three or four bushels of 

 potatoes at thirty-five cents per bushel, are dealt out and 

 put aboard for the crew to own in common. These items 

 are charged as "small general " account to be paid by the 

 crew, while the ballast and hogsheads and salt, etc., were 

 "great general" charges to be paid for by owners and 

 crew together. 



Besides these items there are private supplies according 

 to the taste and poverty of each man. Two pounds of 

 butter in a box, three to five pounds of pork, one gallon 

 of molasses (no sugar), perhaps three or four pounds of 

 rice, seven to fourteen pounds of Ohio flour (not very 

 white, but costing $'j or ^8 a barrel), a little box of corn 

 meal (three or four pounds), and possibly some raisins, — 

 these constitute the commissary outfit for a trip. The 

 total bill for the whole summer in the case of an eco- 

 nomical lad will be only about fourteen dollars. Some 

 men are so mean as to steal from another's pittance, so 

 that each keeps guard of his own. Besides food, each 



