Striped Bass. 



461 



present and treacherous foe, — found time to " go a-angling," ex- 

 cept as a means of warding off famine from their wives and little ones. 

 There is something very pathetic in the accounts of their fishing 



STRIPED BASS OR ROCK FISH. (LABRAX LINEATUS.) 



trips as given in Bradford's " History of Plymouth Plantation." It pre- 

 sents the reverse of the rose-colored pictures of Morton and Higginson: 



" They haveing but one boat left, and she not well fitted, they were divided into 

 severall small companies, six or seven to a gangg or company, and so wente out with a 

 nett they had bought to take bass & such like fish, by course, every company knowing 

 their turne. No sooner was ye boate discharged of what she brought, but ye next 

 company tooke her and wente out with her. Neither did they returne till they had 

 caught something, though it were five or six days before, for they knew there was noth- 

 ing at home, and to gos home emptie would be a great discouragemente to ye rest." 



At New Bedford, we take the steamer for Oak Bluffs, and sail 

 down across Buzzard's Bay and through the narrow strait called 

 Wood's Hole, whose troubled waters % bear a close resemblance to 

 those of Hell Gate. Rare bass-fishing there must be in these cir- 

 cling eddies, and we half mature a plan to stop on the way home and 

 have a day at them. Emerging from the Hole^ into the Vineyard 

 Sound, we steam away for the headlands of Martha's Vineyard, visi- 

 ble in the distance, and in due time haul up at the wharf of that 

 marvelous city of cottages, and take the stage to commence a tedious 



