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intervals of about ten feet. Such a line may extend for a 

 distance of several miles, and have upon it 5,000 or 6,000 

 hooks. It is secured on the ground by an anchor at each 

 end and at intervals of about every half a mile. From the 

 point of each of these anchors a buoy-line rises to the 

 surface of the sea, where it is attached to a buoy. The 

 buoy carries a flag from a staff about ten feet in height, and 

 may be seen for a distance of two or three miles. 



Hand-lining is the term used for a single line with a lead 

 attached in order to sink it to the bottom, and from this 

 lead two short lines, with a hook on each, are suspended. 

 Such a line is worked by a man or boy from the vessel's 

 deck, and as many as ten or twelve may be worked at the 

 same time on each of the larger vessels, which are known 

 as codmen. 



Fishing by means of lines and hooks has been carried 

 on for many centuries ; mention is made of it in the 

 Book of Isaiah, etc., but the subject of its antiquity has 

 been treated at length in the elaborate paper read by 

 the learned Professor at the inauguration of this series of 

 Conferences, and it remains for me to deal with its prac- 

 tice in our own day. 



So far as explorers have penetrated into regions far 

 removed from the limits of civilization, wherever these are 

 bordered by the ocean, they have found implements cor- 

 responding to our hooks and lines, and have furnished 

 accounts which show that a considerable portion of the 

 food supply of the untaught savage is obtained by the 

 hook and line. Very interesting specimens of the crude 

 fishing gear of the Esquimaux are exhibited in the United 

 States section of this Exhibition ; the hook is formed of two 

 pieces of bone and the line is made of strips of sealskin, and 

 although the hook is not furnished with the barb invari- 



