620 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES, 



Of that whole great region it constitutes the mollnscan food-supply, since no oysters grow 

 there, and the "clams" (Cardium, Mya, &c.) are nowhere numerous. Every day the women and 

 children of all the Indians near the coast are out picking mussels from the rocks, and they are 

 eaten the year round. The white inhabitants of that wilderness also consume them, and the Rus- 

 sian name for these mollusks is " black shells" (cliornie rakoosMa). 



The Alaskan method of cooking is by boiling. Sometimes a whole bunch weighing 10, 20, or 

 even 40 pounds, is thrown into the pot of boiling water. When the shells gape the water is poured 

 off, and the Indians sitting around the fire gleefully pick out the mollusks with their fingers and 

 transfer them swiftly to their mouths Try the same primitive instruments. 



Similar feasts take place on Vancouver Island and elsewhere among the more southern 

 tribes, but there they are said generally to practice roasting instead of boiling. 



As is shown by tradition and the presence of the shells scattered through the shell-heaps of 

 the Atlantic coast, mussels formed an important article of food to the eastern Indians. Prof. 

 Samuel Lockwood told me he once discovered a place on Mohinksun Creek, near Keyport, ST. J., 

 where it was evident that the Indians had lived wholly on Modiolus modiola, raising a monument 

 of the fact in a great heap of the refuse shells. There is no doubt that everywhere along the coast 

 they gathered and ate them constantly. 



The Indians made use of their shells also. It is well known to all that the vanity of the red- 

 man is shocked by the presence of the meagre beard which would, if permitted, grow in a scanty 

 way upon his chin. All Indians pull out these hairs with a diligence which disregards all the 

 pain. The apparatus used by the Delawares to accomplish this, according to Heckewelder, " con- 

 sisted of a pair of mussel shells, sharpened on a gritty stone, which answered very well, being 

 somewhat like pincers." 



In respect to the present demand for these mollusks, I find that it is very small, except in 

 New York City. Almost the only other locality where I found them availed of as food was at 

 Savannah, Ga., where the negroes eat them occasionally, but find them tough and often bitter. 

 They are never seen in the Savannah markets. 



In the city of New York, however, they have been constantly used as an article of food for 

 many years. The season for mussels is midsummer, though some have asserted that they 

 are only fit to eat during cold weather. That they do not come to market much in winter, how- 

 ever, is largely due to the fact that then the persons who employ idle time in summer in procuring 

 them are busy. 



The mussels sold in New York markets come from the East River, from Sandy Hook, and 

 especially from Rockaway and Canarsie, Long Island. There are some evidently from the north 

 shore of Long Island, also, since Mr. Mather gives me a note that one man at Port Jefferson 

 shipped 300 bushels a day on many days, and in May and June of 1880 averaged 900 bushels a 

 day. He got $1.25 a barrel for them in New York. Mussels are exceedingly plenty there, but 

 the demand is limited. 



The men who gather mussels for this market are an inferior part of the population, as a rule 

 since the regular oystermen do not care to take the trouble. The claminers get them to a certain 

 extent. They are detached from the rocky beds, where they lie in masses, by the use of a strong 

 fork. 



The mussels are brought to the city every day, and are sold almost entirely at Fulton mar- 

 ket, where several wagon loads and several sail-boat loads are disposed of each morning, at from 

 $1 to $1.50 a barrel. A few also are daily received at the Broome street wharves. The amount 



