124 DRUM FISHING. 



exhibits a uniform bright gold color, which fades, 

 soon after it is taken, into the hues already 

 described. I give you the medium weight and 

 size of the fish, not the extreme. I have taken one 

 which measured four feet six inches in length and 

 weighed eighty-five pounds. Out of twenty taken 

 by me on a particular day, during the present sea- 

 son (April), there were three weighing from sixty- 

 five to seventy pounds each. The smaller-sized 

 fish are excellent for table use their roes, es- 

 pecially, are a great delicacy ; the larger are only 

 valuable when salted and cured like cod-fish, from 

 which when dressed they are scarcely distinguish- 

 able in flavor. The planters of this vicinity 

 are skillful fishermen and much devoted to the 

 sport. They succeeded in taking, during the last 

 season, at least twelve thousand of these fish ; and 

 when I add, that except the small number consumed 

 in their families, the remainder were salted and 

 distributed among their slaves, not in lieu of, but in 

 addition to their ordinary subsistence, you will per- 

 ceive that this is a case wherein the love of sport, 

 and the practice of charity, are singularly coinci- 

 dent. 



And now, for the manner of taking them. The 

 sportsman must provide himself with a substantial 

 boat impelled both by oars and sail, and with at 



