THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 97 



given to the crew of the vessel returning the most fish for 

 the season in proportion to the size of the crew, fifty dol- 

 lars to the crew second highest, forty to the third high- 

 est and the remainder to be divided among the rest of the 

 fleet. 1 



In 1747 there were cured in all places of British North 

 America about 300,000 quintals of dry merchantable cod. 

 This quality was carried to the markets of Spain, Portugal 

 and Italy; the refuse cod were shipped off "for the West 

 India Islands to feed the negro slaves. " 2 For the year 

 ending at October, 1748, one hundred and thirty-one ves- 

 sels cleared at the Salem custom house for foreign voyages. 

 In them were shipped to Europe 32,000 quintals of dry 

 codfish ; to the West Indies, 3,070 hogsheads of refuse cod- 

 fish, at six and seven quintals per hogshead. 3 In addition 

 to the cod, which was the staple of Massachusetts, many 

 smaller kinds of fish were being used for food and becom- 

 ing of economic importance. Haddock, hake and pollock, 

 called scale fish, were caught and cured similarly to cod- 

 fish. They were used in the trade with the West Indies. 

 Herring were caught in seines, or mesh nets; they, too, 

 were pickled and barreled for negroes, but as they proved 

 unmerchantable in that market the business had to be sus- 

 pended. 



Mackerel, which with herring were first used exclusively 

 for bait, now began to be saved for trade with the sugar 

 islands of the West Indies. The fish came upon the coast 

 much as they do now, one school of them putting in appear- 

 ance about the middle of May, lean and wild, only to van- 

 ish after two or three weeks ; another school appeared in the 

 summer and fall, of better size and quality. They were 

 caught with hooks, although some sort of seine was used 



1 Boston Evening Post, Feb. 18, 1754. 



2 Douglass, pp. 300-304. 

 s Ibid, pp. 537-538. 



