GULF OF MEXICO: WESTERN FLORIDA. 559 



this primary stage of the season the farmers begin to arrive at the fishing stations with their 

 teams and sometimes their families. Some of them bring 25 or 50 sacks of salt to exchange 

 for fish, or to use in preparing fresh fish themselves. Others bring country produce, and a few 

 bring nothing but money. They all have their favorite trading stations, at the most popular of 

 which it is said not to be uncommon to see 100 or 120 teams drawn up at a time. When a haul is 

 made with the seine, or when a gill net crew comes in, all these people flock down to the shore and 

 buy the fish at so much apiece, or make some arrangement for a certain number salted. 



During the season there are often weeks when the -mullet do not come into shoal water, and 

 not unfrequently two weeks pass at the height of the season without any great amount of mullet 

 being taken. Then, again, with a change of weather, they come within reach in such numbers that 

 there is not a sufficient force of men to handle them before they have all passed, and the fishing 

 for that season may be said to be over. It is said by several of the leading men that the supply 

 falls short of the demand. 



The fish are dressed here as at Appalachicola and Saint Andrews, hereafter to be described. 

 None are brine-salted or shipped in tight packages. The cured fish which were examined at these 

 places provided that they were fair samples, and there was no reason to suppose that they were 

 not were far inferior to those cured at Appalachicola, where they presented a clean appearance 

 and looked as though they were intended for food. 



All the salt used here in the curing of the fish comes from Georgia by teams, or from Talla- 

 hassee. It costs the fishermen $2.50 or $2.75 a barrel, delivered at their stations. It is a fine 

 quality of Liverpool salt. There have never been any salt works at these bays. 



The catch of a seine will average 150 barrels per season at these points, and of a gill-net 20 

 barrels a season. It is estimated that the fish will average in value $5 a barrel. Out of the 

 proceeds must be paid the cost of the salt, and the wages of the men and their food, for idle days 

 as well as busy ones. Twelve to fifteen dollars a month are the usual wages paid to seiners. The 

 results of different years vary but little. 



The fish are sold mostly by the individual, or by the lot, when fresh. For fresh mullet in the 

 "round," as it is called, 2 cents each are paid; for "dry-salted" those which have lain several 

 days beneath a sprinkling of salt i'rom 2 to 4 cents, according to size, are paid. 



202. THE FISHERIES OF APPALACHICOLA. 



COMPARATIVE SCARCITY OF FISH IN APPALACHICOLA BAY. Although situated off that part 

 of the Gulf coast which is being constantly passed by migratory fishes, and is so largely frequented 

 by more southern species of fish, Appalachicola Bay and the adjoining waters of Saint Vincent's 

 and Saint George's Sounds are without any abundance of the former or extensive variety of the 

 latter. This is probably due to the freshness and muddiness of the water, for which two reasons 

 are offered in explanation: First, the Appalachicola River, a river of considerable size formed by 

 the junction of the Chattahoochee and the Flint Rivers, is constantly discharging its waters, fresh 

 and muddy, into Appalachicola Bay at a point 8 miles distant from the sea; and, second, the 

 water which flows westward through Saint George's Sound bears with it the emptyings of all the 

 rivers in the bight extending from Saint Mark's to Cedar Keys. The freshness and thickiiess of 

 the water in Appalachicola Bay can hardly be attributable to any other causes. In this bay, 

 although it is but a poor summer resort for most of the sea fishes, some species the greater part 

 of which are anadroinous thrive, and at certain seasons are very abundant. 



MULLET FISHERY OF APPALACHICOLA. At Appalachicola there are one hundred and sev- 



