602 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
or pounds without curved lines, are successfully operated. The Monomoy pounds are double—that 
is, they have two leaders and two hearts and bowls, the second leader extending outward from the 
first bowl. 
The most important fisheries are at Chatham, off Monomoy Point, and along the western 
portion of the north shore of Martha’s Vineyard. Other stations exist, however, at intervals from 
Chatham to Wood’s Holl, on the south shore of Cape Cod, among the Elizabeth Islands, about 
Nantucket, and the eastern portion of the north shore of Martha’s Vineyard. The fishery seems 
most completely organized at Monomoy. The nets are set westward from the shore on the great 
flats that extend off the point in that direction, and at but short distances from one another. Along 
the south shore of the cape they are placed in the shallow bays and inlets; westward, about Fal- 
mouth, at the outlets of the curious fiords of that region. The nets about the Elizabeth Islands 
are not of great importance, if I may exclude the Rhode Island traps which have been introduced 
there, to which I shall allude when treating of the fisheries of that state. Along the Vineyard 
- shore the pounds are placed in the inlets, such as Lombard’s Cove, Menemsha Bight, and others. 
Unlike the fisheries of the north shore, the stations in Vineyard Sound are remote from the 
villages. This is notably the case at Monomoy. The fishermen establish a colony there at the 
opening of the fishing season, and remain until it is past. Hach party, consisting of about ten or 
twelve men, is accompanied by two cooks, that there may be no lack of digestible and strength- 
giving food, and a bookkeeper, that the accounts may be in order. One or more fish-houses, in 
which the fishermen live, stand opposite each pound-net. The arrangements are not so elaborate 
on Vineyard Sound, and at the west end of the cape the pound nets lie comparatively near the 
dwellings of the fishermen. : 
“The season at Monomoy extends from the 10th or middle of April to the last of May or 1st 
of June. It extends over a much longer period on the Vineyard, but the pounds are usually up 
during the heated term in the summer. 
CARE AND DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH.—The catch of the Vineyard Sound pounds includes 
a great variety of species of fish, the number and size of each kind varying, of course, greatly 
in different parts of the season. The most important factors in the product of the fishery are mack- 
erel, sea-herring, menhaden, alewives, flounders, and shad. Scup are not usually taken to any 
considerable extent. Some of the pounds on the north shore of Martha’s Vineyard catch great 
quantities of squid, which are sold to the vessel fishermen for bait, as is also the major portion of 
the menhaden and alewives taken in all the pounds. 
It is not unusual for the Martha’s Vineyard companies to secure considerable quantities of 
bonito and Spanish mackerel. I remember that while at Menemsha Bight in 1879, at the fish-house 
of one of the pounds a flag was flying in order to signal to the smacks, which were lying at a dis- 
tance, that the pockets of the net were full of bonito. This fish and Spanish mackerel seem to 
vary greatly in abundance from day to day, the hauls of the pounds for a week at a time perhaps 
containing not a single specimen of either species. The arrangements for disposing of the products 
of the weir are quite different from those employed by the north-shore companies. From the 
pounds of Monomoy Point the products are conveyed to market by way of Dennisport. They are 
carried from the nets to that place in small sloops, which are pressed into service at the beginning 
of the season and are kept constantly employed. The fish are, of course, taken from, the pounds 
fresh, and are simply stowed in the boats. When they arrive at Dennisport they are taken out and 
packed with ice in barrels and other receptacles. Thence they go directly by rail to Boston and 
New York. Along the western portion of the south shore of the cape, as I have already stated, 
