670 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



of Scotland.' Again, speaking of herrr.igs, he says : ' They seein to be variable or whimsical as to 

 their ground.' It is a fact, too, that where they most abound, on the coast of Norway and Sweden 

 their occasional disappearance is a sul ject of remark, also of early date, in a comparative view. 

 'Previous to the year 1752 the herrings had entirely disappeared seventy-two years on the coast 

 of Sweden; and yet, in 1782, 139,000 barrels were cured by salt at the mouth of the Gothela, near 

 Gotten bnrg.' Studies of Nature. 



" The herring is essentially different from the alewife in size (much smaller) and in habit. It 

 continues, we believe, in the open sea, and does not seek pond heads. Attempts are sometimes" 

 made, by artificial cuts, to induce them to visit ponds which had not before a natural outlet. These 

 little cuts, flowing in the morning become intermittent at noon, as the spring and summer advances. 

 Evaporation, therefore, which is very great from the surface of the pond should probably be 

 considered in the experiment, making the canal as low as the midsummer level of the pond, other- 

 wise it may be that the fish perish in the passage. This may, in other respects, have its incon 

 veniences at seasons when the ponds are full. 



"The town of Plymouth for a series of years annually voted from 1,000 to 500 and 200 

 barrels of alewives to be taken at all their brooks in former years. 



" In the year 1730 the inhabitants were ordered not to take more than 4 barrels each ; a 

 large individual supply, indeed, compared with the present period (1815), when it is difficult for an 

 householder to obtain 200 alewives, seldom so many. 



"In 1762, at a vendue, the surplus appears to have been sold in 25-barrel lots, which sold at 

 3s. Id. and is. the barrel. In 1763 Plymouth and Wareham took 150 barrels at the Agawaam brook.* 

 Two hundred barrels was the usual vote, down to a modern date, perhaps 1776. Menhaden were 

 also taken in quantity at Wareham, and barrelled for exportation in former years. Agawaam 

 appears to have been a name for several places where migratory fishes resorted. Thus at 

 Ipswich and Westfleld River as well as this place. Wood, in his ' New England Prospect,' writes 

 the word Igowam. At the season of fishing the whole population of the country was, doubtless, 

 in motion, resorting to these places. Hence we incline to the opinion that this expression became 

 in several places a fixed and permanent name, and was in some way typical of it. We think 

 ' abundance of food' is understood." 



3. THE ALEWIFE FISHERY OF CAPE COD. 

 BY FBEDERICK W. TRUE. 



THE ALEWIFE STEEAMS. The alewife fishery has been prosecuted by the people of South- 

 eastern Massachusetts from the earliest colonuial days. The regularity with which the ale wives 

 visited the coast, and the abundance of the supply, soon caused them to rely upon the products of 

 the fishery for sustenance to a considerable degree, especially in those years when other fisheries 

 suffered decline. The statute-books of the Commonwealth contain many laws and regulations 

 relating to the alewife fishery, whose object is its extension or preservation. 



The fishery proper consists in the capture of alewives while ascending the streams to spawn, 

 but large quantities are also taken in the weirs and pounds which are in use at many points along 

 the coast, and likewise in gilljiets and seines. 



The interior and higher portions of the territory of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard are 

 dotted with numerous fresh-water ponds, from which small streams run down to the sea. In 



* Plymouth retains a fishing privilege in this brook within Wareham. The alewives, we are told, were moio 

 numerous in 1815 than for some years. 



