BONY FISHES. 
after the middle of April. 
ORDER 
Ill. MALACOPTERYGII SUB-BRACHIATI. 195 
These vast shoals, hundreds of miles from land, 
and covered with a perpetual fog, thick as night, through which the sun 
scarcely makes an opening more than two or three times a week, are dismal 
enough. Yet they are rich in thousands of objects which interest the natu- 
ralist. The bottom swarms with floral treasures of exceeding beauty, most. 
brilliantly and delightfully tinted, rivalling the flowers which adorn the hills 
and valleys of the upper world, yet all are instinct with animal life. 
The first operation, after the anchor is dropped, is to prepare bins or pens, 
if this has not previously been done, for the reception of the fish as they are 
hauled in. Two of these are required on each side of the vessel, near the 
fishermen who tend the lines. These last are attached to cleats, fastened to 
the stanchions which support the bulwarks, over which they fall into the 
water, and are allowed to sink until the baited hooks are within a few inches 
of the bottom. If the cod are hungry, and bite briskly, a few hours fish- 
ing will fill the bins, when the labor of catching ceases, and preparations 
are made for dress¢ng them. 
The crew of a fishing-vessel is divided into two watches, which alternate- 
That of the Pow- 
hattan consisting of eight, exclusive of the cook, each watch comprised four 
ly relieve each other, at intervals of two or four hours. 
persons. In the dressing and salting of the fish, there is a curious division 
of labor, which necessitates a peculiar organization, in which each man is 
assigned to a particular office; as, for example, our men were thus ar- 
ranged : Philip Cook and James M. Turner, sp/étéers; Frederick Hunt and 
Thomas R. Whorf, jr., sadters; Isaac Small and Charles Cook, throaters ; 
J. I. Witherel * and A. C. L. Arnold, headers. 
from the bin, places it upon the table temporarily erected for the purpose, and, 
The throater takes the cod 
with a sharp knife, cuts the throat and the muscles of the neck to the bone, 
and splits open the belly, when he shoves it along to the header, who places 
the fish on its back, with the neck just on the edge of the table, and then, with 
a sudden movement or jerk, presses the head down, which breaks the neck, 
and easily severs the head from the body. He then draws out the viscera, 
which, after separating the liver, which slips through a hole into a vessel 
prepared to receive it, he casts into a tub, and slides the fish down to the 
bottom of the table, when the splitter opens it upon the back, along the 
bone, the vertebrie of which he severs, as is seen in dried specimens, and flings 
it into the hold to the salter. 
The catch for the time being thus disposed of, the table is unshipped, 
and the offal is cast into the sea, when the culls, in numbers innumerable, 
commence their revels. These voracious birds, which can swallow a cod- 
liver as large as their own bodies, have no respect for each other’s rights, 
* Afterwards a distinguished clergyman of Maine. 
