004 HISTORY AND METHODS OF TIIK FISHKKIRS. 



or yawls rigged with two sails. Each boat carries one man. The rake has been described. The 

 baskets in which the quahaugs are collected and measured are of the ordinary manufacture and 

 hold about a bushel each, and the whole outfit of a quahaug fisherman does not cost over $150, 

 and the total amount of capital invested in apparatus at the present time in Wellfleet does not 

 exceed $800. This amount is about evenly divided between the five men, uone of whom are 

 engaged in this fishery more than a part of their tinre. 



Quahaugs are sent to market always in the shell, and packed in second-hand flour or sugar 

 barrels. The wholesale price of quahaugs for many years averaged GO cents per bushel, but 

 in 1879 it fell to 55 cents. One dollar and seventy-five cents is the average wholesale price per 

 barrel. Quahaugs retail in Wellfleet at 80 cents per bushel. The usual method of transportation 

 is by packet, at a cost of 25 cents per barrel. 



The Wellfleet fishermen employ no agent, but receive orders directly from merchants in various 

 places, who know them personally. 



At Orleans, some few men who go mackereling in summer stay at home and dig clams in 

 winter, getting perhaps 50 barrels of quahaugs, among others, which are peddled in town. The 

 south side of the cape is hardly more productive commercially, although the rnollusks are plenty 

 enough at certain points, as, for instance, at Waquoit; and I fancy that 3,000 barrels, holding, say, 

 7,500 bushels, and worth $5,000, will cover the whole cash sales of the cape. 



Martha's Vineyard used to be bordered by good quahaug ground, but I am not aware that 

 many are caught there now. In an old book I find the following historical allusion to it: 



"The poquau (V. mercenaria) is found in Old Town Harbor, at Cape Poge, and in Menemsha 

 Pond; great quantities are exported. It is taken up with iron rakes in deep water; and in shal- 

 low water it is picked up by the hand. The siki, or common clam, is found on the borders of the 

 lagunes and in several other parts of the island, it attains its full size in two years. Much 

 examination has convinced us that it has not the power of locomotion ; but the poquau is able to 

 cover itself with sand, and to move itself forward, though very slowly. Two thousand dollars' 

 worth of clams, at $9 a barrel, have been sold in Edgartowii, the present year [i. e., previous to 

 August, 1807]. They also begin to be taken at Menemsha Pond, and we believe in other places, 

 and sold for bait. The razor shell and the muscle are scarce." 



NARRAGANSETT BAY. In Narragansett Bay, Ehode Island, the yield is large, as might be 

 expected of the traditional home of the " wampampeege." Seventy-five men, it is asserted, take an 

 average of 1J bushels a day the year round. The ground extends on both -sides of Providence 

 River below Field's Point and down to the deep water, perhaps farther. They are also caught at 

 Wickford, to the extent of 1,000 bushels. Adding this to the estimate for Providence River gives 

 over 42,000 bushels as* the annual yield, nearly all of which goes to Providence .and returns the 

 fishermen about $35,000. 



COAST OF CONNECTICUT. I must deplore a lamentable lack of statistics in regard to the 

 coast of Connecticut. At Norwalk three oystermen ship them, together with supplies from Long 

 Island. The quahaugs are caught by seventy-five men, all among the islands in the harbor, and 

 amount to about 7,000 bushels a year, worth $5,000. At Rowayton, close by, twenty-five men take 

 half as many, and a small planting has been begun. I think it would not be much out of the way 

 to say that at least 25,000 bushels were sent to market annually from Connecticut, and another 

 25,000 bushels eaten at home. The class of men who get them and the soft clams mainly, are a 

 miserable set who help the oystermen in winter and " go clamming" in summer. They are locally 

 known as "proggers." The hard clams are reported on this shore to be found over a wider area 

 than formerly, but in far less quantity. 



