SAILOE PISHEEMEN OF NEW ENGLAND. 53 



illustrates the enterprise of early youth. He says : 'In passing from Truro to Provincetown,' by 

 the bay route, 'I had in company an inhabitant of the latter place. As we approached the mouth 

 of the inlet, the veitebras of a small species of whale, here called the blackfish, became frequent 

 on the beach, together with otljer signs of the fisheries. Soon after, at the distance of half a mile, 

 on the sandy flat from which the sea was now fast retiring, we discovered a boy, and near him 

 appeared to be a great fish. The solitariness of the boy and his smallness compared with the 

 fish, formed a combination sufQciently remarkable to draw us to the spot ; and we found our fisher- 

 man of about ten years of age astride a porpoise about 10 feet long, in the midst of a sea of blood 

 collected in the hollow of the sand. Alone, with a common table-knife for his instrument, he was 

 cutting the blubber from the ribs of the monster, a task which he performed in a very workmanlike 

 manner. Upon inquiring, we learned that he alone had killed the fish. His employment in the 

 morning had been the tending of his mother's cows ; and from the hills on which he was he had 

 seen a shoal of porpoises enter the inlet. As the tide was ebbing, and the shore flat, many of 

 them were soon embarrassed by the want of sufiBcient water to move in; and he flattered himself 

 that by leaving the cows and coming down to the beach, he might be able to make a prize! So 

 going into the water as far as he daied, he selected one struggling to regain deep water. This 

 fish be boldly caught, from time to time, by the tail, thereby increasing its difficulties, till at last 

 the water running away left the porpoise upon the sand. He staid by the fish till he was sure 

 that escape was impossible ; and then running home, a distance of a mile, procured a knife. Thus 

 armed, he proceeded to wound and kill the fish — a task of some labor and danger; and, according 

 to his account, he had accomplished it only by watching opportunities — alternately striking and 

 retreating. My companion said it would yield 10 gallons of oil, and give the little cowherd $10 

 for his exploit.' 



" Of even children, on the lower parts of the Cape, the little porpoise-killer at Truro is a fair 

 specimen. Boys are often at sea at a very early age. Many of them at ten have become expert 

 fishermen ; and all who have a mind for promotion find their way from the forecastle to the cabin 

 in due time. Many of our best commanders in foreign voyages are furnished here. The testimony 

 of Burke, in the House of Commons, before the Eevolution, 1774, in regard to the mariners of New 

 England, was especially applicable to this and other parts of Cape Cod. 'No sea but what is 

 vexed by their fisheries ; no climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance of 

 Holland nor the activity of France nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever 

 carried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it has been pursued by 

 this recent i)eople. • * * a more hardy or enterprising race of mariners is nowhere to be met 

 on the watery element.'" 



35. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS. 



Chaeacteeistios of Ameeican fisheemen. — It has been the custom of many writers upon 

 the fisheries to consider the fishermen as a peculiar class of men, with striking mental character- 

 istics by which they could be distinguished from the population of the shore. This may be justi- 

 fiable in cases where the profession of fishing is hereditary, in which event those who pursue it are 

 prevented by social limitations from entering upon commercial or other pursuits upon land. It 

 has been quite a common practice to consider the fishermen of all countries as possessed of similar 

 traits. 



In Sabine's well-known report on the American fisheries he devotes a chapter to the public 

 services and character of fishermen,* in which he gives many interesting facts concerning the serv- 



* Beport on the Frincipal Fisheries ou the American Seas, pp. 198-310. 



