AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2791 



East Cape! A. Well, I cannot identify them as the same ; but that is 

 the way in which we catch them, whether they are the same mackerel 

 or not. 



Q. Can you undertake to say that there are not different schools of 

 mackerel ? A. Of course not. I cannot tell you that. 



Q. Did you ever take them early in the spring when they are very 

 poor? A. Well, one year I went out iu the Abigail for early mackerel 

 iato North Bay ; but that is the only year 1 did so. This was iu 1831. I 

 then fished on Banks Orphan and Bradley. 



Q. You did not get into the bay that year until the middle of July? 

 A. Iu' the Abigail ? 



Q. In 1851 you said you left home on the 7th of July? A. In some 

 vessels I left home on that date ; but I left in that vessel in June. 



Q. I think you told me that you made two trips to the bay that year? 

 A. I did. 



Q. And that you left home on the 7th of July ? A. I said the 7th of 

 July here, but I did not say the 7th of July yesterday. I did not say 

 anything about the 7th of July, except to-day. I left on the 7th of July 

 in the Rose Skerritt, and in the Oliver Cromwell, and for a number of 

 years I left Gloucester on Chat date. 



Q. When was this? A. I went out in the Abigail in June, 1851. 



Q. You told me previously that in 1851 you made two trips and 

 started on the 7th of July ? A. Well, then, we will rectify that ; I went 

 in Juue in the Abigail, and got my trip on Banks Orphan and Bradley; 

 and my second trip, 75 barrels, in the bend of the island. 



Q. That was very early ? A. I went very early for poor mackerel. 



Q. That is the season when the mackerel are thin ? A. Yes; we call 

 them leather-bellies; they are full of spawn, and mackerel number threes 

 large, but nothing except number threes. 



Q. You do not catch number ones during that part of the season ? 

 A. No. 



Q. The best mackerel are caught in the fall ? A. You can get as 

 good mackerel along in the last of August and in September as at any 

 time. 



Q. Did you ever look at the eyes of those fish which you call by that 

 elegant and I dare say appropriate name, to see whether there was a 

 film over them ? A. Well, a maxim is current among fishermen, that 

 when the scale comes off their eyes they are apt to bite. 



Q. You do know of this, then ? A. I do not know that the film exists; 

 I have looked a number of times, but I could never perceive whether 

 the scales were off or not. 



Q. How long is it-since you first heard of their having scales on their 

 eyes? A. O, since I first went to the United States. 



Q. And as soon as these scales come off they are ready to bite ? A. 

 That is the assertion which is made, but I do not know whether it is 

 the case or not. '>-**K^| 



Q. Did any person ever start a theory to you, to give a reason why 

 there should be scales over their eyes? A. No; but I have heard old 

 Mr. Atwood, of Provincetown, speak about it, though I -cannot say 

 whether he knows much about it or not. 1 never paid much attention 

 to his statements. 



*Q. Do you think that Mr. Attwood is a little wild in his theories? 

 A. I do not know. I have often heard him speak about these things; 

 of course what he said might all be so, but from my experience I do not 

 think it; what he said went in at one ear and came out of the other, for 

 my part, and that is about the heft I got of it. 



