288 BEACH GRASS 



Herring torching is a picturesque pursuit. In 

 the fall of the year young herring abound off the 

 beaches and in the estuaries of this sandy region. 

 Herring, like moths are fascinated by a flame, and 

 crowd the waters near a torch carried on a boat. 

 In the old days, the flaming knots of pitch pine, 

 — ^candlewood as it was called — were used as a 

 light. At the present day an iron basket is fixed 

 over the bow of the boat and fed by hand with 

 masses of cotton soaked in kerosene. A still 

 greater improvement is a wire netting cylinder 

 filled with asbestos, supplied with kerosene from 

 a compressed air tank. Motor boats have taken 

 the place of dories propelled by oars. On almost 

 any favorable night in October and November 

 one may see the mouths of the Ipswich and 

 Essex rivers dotted with moving lights. 



It is cold hard work but full of excitement and 

 fisherman's luck. Some nights only a few fish 

 are seen, on other nights the men are obliged to 

 desist, for the boat can hold no more. The her- 

 ring are piled high above the gunwales. The 

 torch illuminates the water for a few feet around 

 the bow of the boat — beyond is a wall of dark- 



