OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. 817 
hook or harpoon. It spends most of its time at the bottom in 
both deep and shoal water, but frequently comes to the surface, 
and according to report sleeps there. It also goes into lagoons, 
and likes to be near the kelp. They grow very large, some- 
times to weigh five hundred pounds, and as their flesh is very 
good, a profitable business might be made of fishing for them. 
Sharks are taken by Chinamen for food and by Americans 
for their oil. The. common sharks caught by the Chinamen, 
perhaps more properly called “ dog-fish” (Acanthea suchleyt 
and Yriakis fasciatus), are taken in nets during the summer 
months and are dried in the sun. They are from three to five 
feet long, and contain a large amount of meat, which is never 
eaten by white men, but seems to have favor among the 
Mongols. The fish is cut open by a dexterous and quick 
stroke of a large knife along the back-bone, and is then dried 
without the use of salt. The fins are considered a delicacy. 
In Humboldt Bay the true shark (Notorhynchus maculatus), 
from five to twelve feet in length, is taken with spears. Three 
men have a flat-bottomed boat twenty feet long and four feet 
wide, with which they go into the shallow waters of the bay, 
whither the sharks resort in pursuit of the sardines. The 
liver is taken from the shark and the remainder thrown away. 
Each liver yields from one to eight pounds of oil. The spears 
have a handle eight feet long, which is loose and comes out 
of the spear-head after the shark is struck. If the handle were 
fastened in the spear-head, it would be broken by the struggles 
of the fish. A rope attached to the spear-head suffices to hold 
the shark, and by its means he is drawn up to the side of the 
boat, where he is struck by an axe on the head, and thus 
dispatched. The shark season lasts only about two months, 
during July and August. The oil is used for lubricating the 
machinery of the saw-mills about the bay, and sells for one 
dollar per gallon; and so long as the season lasts the fisher- 
men make from five to ten dollars per day. 
§ 230. Lunting—The principal game quadrupeds and birds 
of California are grizzly bear, elk, deer, antelope, hare, rabbit ; 
