Notice of the Shad Fisheries of the River Delaware. 137 



of any of the finny race, and decidedly the best mode of cooking is 

 that called " planking," which consists in nailing the fish to a clean 

 oaken plank, previously heated, and setting it before a brisk fire. 

 By this method the juices of the fish are all preserved. They are 

 sometimes treated like hams, viz, by rubbing them with fine salt, 

 salt-petre, and molasses, and smoked for a kw days, and in this way 

 are very superior to those cured with salt alone. 



The usual and most efficient method of taking the shad is by means 

 of seines. These however are applicable only to the deeper wa- 

 ters ; in the current, viz. above the tide, amongst the shallows, va- 

 rious other contrivances are used to entrap them. Until within a 

 few years there was but one kind of seine used; this varied in length 

 according to the extent of the range, the width of the channel, and 

 rapidity of the tide or current, as the case might be ; its breadth 

 being proportioned to the depth of the water but tapering towards 

 the ends. Both margins are connected with a stout line or rope, 

 the one armed with oblong cedar blocks called corks, presenting the 

 appearance of a string of beads, to support the upper margin at the 

 surface of the water, the other being naked, or sometimes rendered 

 more heavy by the addition, at iVrtervals, of pieces of sheet lead to 

 keep it near the bottom. These lines are joined near to each ex- 

 tremity of the seines and are there called the brails, to each of which 

 are attached the ropes by which the net is to be drawn to the shore. 

 Thus constructed, the net is placed on the stern of what is called 

 the seine-boat — a large barge-like boat, long and narrow, and having 

 a sort of platform in the stern, upon which the net and lines are care- 

 fully coiled. The boat being rowed to the proper starting place, 

 the line which is to connect the net with the shore is then taken by 

 a part of the crew, called the landsmen, who are posted on the shore 

 at the starting place, and the boat is rowed out into the river, the 

 residue of the land line and the net gradually running off as the 

 boat recedes, until the whole is dropped into the water, the boat 

 gradually rounding to and approaching the shore, so as to give to 

 the net the form of a crescent, the arms of which being in the di- 

 rection of the current, so as to gather in as many fish as possible du- 

 ring the drift of the seine. On reaching the shore, the boat's crew 

 seize the fine connected with the outer end of the net, called the 

 water line, which was also coiled away in the boat, and both divis- 

 ions of the crew now commence drawing in their respective ends, 

 gradually " dropping down," as it is called, so as to keep " abreast" 



Vol. XXXIL— No. 1. 18 



