726 GEOGRAPHICAL EBVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



to bo fouud on Chelsea beach, a few miles from Boston. The shells, with the living worms in them, can without much 

 difficulty be procured at Orleans and other parts of the county of Barnstable ; but as they are not taken, except a 

 few at a time, they are not often eaten. 



" The sea clam, which is at present called the hen, the quahaug having lost that appellation, is bivalve (as are 

 also the quahaug and ra/or-shell) and oval. It is generally found in deep water, and is gathered with rakes, not 

 being buried far in the sand. As it has frequently been known to injure the stomach it is not often eaten. Before 

 the Indians learned of the English use of a more convenient instrument they hilled their corn with hoes made of these 

 shells, to which purpose they are well adapted by their size. If a handle could be easily fixed to them they might be 

 employed as ladles and spoons. 



"The clam (Mya arenaria) is of the same shape, but much smaller. This worm is buried in the sand from 4 to 18 

 inches deep. A small perforation, through which, after the tide has ebbed away, it ejects water perpendicularly, marks 

 the spot where it lies. The worm has the power of thrusting upward its black head or snout, and of drawing it, 

 down again. This snout is frequently bitten oft' by flounders and other fishes. Whether the shell moves or not the 

 writer is unable to determine, as he has received contradictory accounts. The Indians were very fond of clams, which 

 they called sickishuog (this is a word with a plural termination. See Coll. Hist. Soc., vol. iii, p. 224. If the author 

 might be allowed to revive an old term he would denominate the common, or small clam, the sicki, a word of easy 

 pronunciation, and which Would distinguish it from the fresh- water clam and the three other testaceous worms above 

 mentioned). Being unacquainted with salt, the Indians made use of them and of their natural liquor to season 

 their nausamp and Tjoiled maize. Many of the descendants of the English consider clams as excellent food. But they 

 require strong stomachs to digest them, unless the whole of the snout is rejected. They would be more valued if they 

 were less common. But as long as a peck of clams, which are sufficient to afford a small family a dinner, can bo 

 procured with little more labor than a peck of sand they will not be much prized. The clam continues alive several 

 days after it is taken from its hole. This is well known to fishermen, and is proved by the following singular fact. 

 A gentleman, not far from Boston, ordered a number of clams to be dug and to be put into his cellar, intending to 

 make use of them as bait. They remained there several days, when the shells, as is usual, beginning to open, a rat 

 thrust his paw into one of them attempting to pull out the worm. The two shells closed together with force and held 

 him fast. As the clam was too big to be dragged through his hole the rat was unable to make his escape ; and at 

 length his cries excited the attention of the family, who came and saw him in the situation described. 



"Clams are found on many parts of the shores of New England; but nowhere in greater abundance than at 

 Orleans. Formerly 500 barrels were annually dug here for bait; but the present year 1.000 barrels have been col- 

 lected. Between 100 and 200 of the poorest of the inhabitants are employed in this business, and they receive from 

 their employers |3 a barrel for digging the clams, opening, salting them, and filling the casks. From 12 to 18 bushels 

 of clams in the shell must be dug to fill, when opened, a barrel. A man by this labor can earn 75 cents a day, and 

 women and children are also engaged in it. A barrel of clams is worth |6 ; the employers, therefore, after deduct- 

 ing the expense of the salt and the casks, which they supply, still obtain a handsome profit. A thousand barrels 

 of clams are equal in value to 6,000 or 8,000 bushels of Indian corn, and are procured with not more labor and 

 expense. When, therefore, the fishes, with which the coves of Orleans abound, are also taken into consideration, 

 they may justly be regarded as more beneficial to the inhabitants than if the space which they occupy was covered 

 with the most fertile soil. The riches which they yield are inexhaustible, provided they are not too wantonly lav- 

 ished. For after a portion of the shore has been dug over and almost all the clams taken up, at the end of two years, 

 it is said, they are as plenty there as ever. It is even affirmed by many persons that it is as necessary to stir the clam 

 ground frequently as it is to hoe a field of potatoes; because if this labor be omitted the clams will be crowded too 

 closely together and will be prevented from increasing in size." 



WELLFJLEET 



THE FISHING INDUSTRIES OF WELLFLEET IN 1794 AND 1H02. In the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical 

 Society for the year 1794 (vol. iii, 1st series, pp. 119-121) is found the following account of the fish and fisheries of 

 Wellfleet, written by Levi Whitman : 



"The people in this town are engaged in the sea service. A sailor is looked on as one engaged in the most hon- 

 orable and beneficial employments. There are but few mechanics. Our vessels commonly fit out from Boston, and 

 go thither to dispose of their oil, fish, bone, &c. Perhaps there are but few towns so well supplied with fish of all 

 kinds as Wellfleet ; among which are some that are uncommon, such as the swordfish and cramp fish. The latter, 

 which when touched with human flesh, give it an electrical shock, has been caught on our shores. The oil of this fish 

 is said to be beneficial in certain cases. We also have the billfish in great plenty in the month of October. No part 

 of the world has better oysters than the harbor of Wellfleet; time was when they were to be found in the greatest 

 plenty, but in 1775 a mortality from an unknown cause carried off the most of them. Since that time the true 

 Billingsgate oysters have been scarce ; and the greater part that are carried to market are first imported and laid in 

 our harbor, where they obtaiu the proper relish of Billingsgate." 



Freeman gives the following account of the fisheries in 1803, but does not state whence he derived his information: 



" The business of the town at this date [1HO'2] was thus noted : ' Engaged in the. whale fisheries were five vessels. 

 They carried salt, that should they not load with oil in the straits of Belle Isle or Newfoundland, they might make 

 up their voyage with codfish. In the cod and mackerel fisheries four vessels were exclusively engaged ; in the 

 fisheries around the cape twelve vessels were employed ; and in carrying oysters to Boston, Salem, Newburyport, 

 and Portland, four other vessels.'"' 



1 Freeman's History of Cape Cod. Boston, 1862, vol. ii, p. 078. 



