ALASKA. 167 



The coast-cod average in tliis Territory, "from the knife," 

 about three to five ponuds, and the deep or outer water cod, of 

 the same species, average about eight or ten, but they are not 

 as plentiful as the smaller. The best banks in the Territory 

 are those south of Unga Island, about the Shumagins and 

 south of Kodiak. The catch is best off Unga. 



3. Halibut. — !<'ound throughout the Territory on soundings 

 south of the sixtieth parallel of north latitude. Halibut are 

 quite abundant and of excellent qualitj , but the climate is such 

 that the fishermen cannot properly dry or cure them for exporta- 

 tion, even in small cargoes. They are, however, not abun- 

 dant enough for exportation, and must therefore be regarded 

 as only of local importance. 



The other fish — roclc-ccd, sculpin, ichifc-fislt — peculiar to the 

 rivers, &c., which are found along the coast and in the bays 

 and estuaries, possess no special merit, and have no commer- 

 cial importance, but they are valuable factors to the natives' 

 existence. 



It will be observed that the waters of the Territory of Alaska 

 are well stocked with fish for home use ; in the salmon inter- 

 ests, the natural wealth is great, and will doubtless be utilized 

 sooner or later by canning, but that the experiment of salting 

 cod and salting salmon has not been profitable for sale in the 

 Australian, South American, and even in our own market. 

 There are twelve to thirteen small cod-fishing vessels that 

 supply the San Francisco trade, but it is a significant fact 

 that out of this number nine or ten deserted the Alaskan 

 banks last season, and went on nearly two thousand miles 

 farther into the Ochotsk for their catch, where the fish are 

 superior in quality and more plentiful. 



It will not be untrue to assert, from what is now known in 

 regard to the fishing-interests of Alaska, that there is nothing 

 there that can be considered parallel or at all equal to the runs 

 of cod, scup, shad, and mackerel of the New England coast, 

 save the periodic visit of salmon, which come in truly magnifi- 

 cent number and condition. 



In the small harbor of Woods's Hole, 3Iass., Professor Baird 

 caught in his nets, during one summer, over seventy species of 

 food-fishes. That cannot be done in the Xorth Pacific, no matter 

 when or where the naturalist or fisherman may choose to try. 

 The variety and number of piscatorial life in this region is poor 

 indeed when compared with that of the Xorth Atlantic. 



