670. HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
of Scotland’ Again, speaking of herrings, he says.: ‘They seem to be variable or whimsical as to 
their ground.’ It is a fact, too, that where they most abound, on the coast of Norway and Sweden 
their occasional disappearance is a subject of remark, also of early date, in a comparative view. 
‘Previous to the year 1752 the herrings had entirely disappeared seventy-two years on the coast 
of Sweden; and yet, in 1782, 139,000 barrels were cured by salt at the mouth of the Gothela, near 
Gottenburg.’— Studies of Nature. 
“The herring is essentially different from the alewife in size (much smaller) and in habit. It 
continues, we believe, in the open sea, and does not seek pond heads. Attempts are sometimes 
made, by artificial cuts, to induce them to visit ponds which had not before a natural outlet. These 
little cuts, flowing in the morning become intermittent at noon, as the spring and summer advances. 
Evaporation, therefore, which is very great from the surface of the pond should probably be 
considered in the experiment, making the canal as low as the midsummer level of the pond, other- 
wise it may be that the fish perish in the passage. This may, in other respects, have its incon- 
veniences at seasons when the ponds are full. 
“The town of Plymouth for a series of years annually voted from 1,000 to 500 and 200 
barrels of alewives to be taken at all their brooks in former years. 
“In the year 1730 the inhabitants were ordered not to take more than 4 barrels each; a 
large individual supply, indeed, compared with the present period (1815), when it is difficult for an 
householder to obtain 200 aléwives, seldom so many. 
“In 1762, at a vendue, the surplus appears to have been sold in 25-barrel lots, which sold at. 
3s. 7d. and 4s. the barrel. In 1763 Plymouth and Wareham took 150 barrels at the Agawaam brook.* 
Two hundred barrels was the usual vote, down to a modern date, perhaps 1776. Menhaden were 
also taken in quantity at Wareham, and barrelled for exportation in former years. Agawaam 
appears to have been a name for several places where migratory fishes resorted. Thus at 
Ipswich and Westfield River as well as this place. Wood, in his ‘New Englind Prospect,’ writes 
the word Igowam. At the season of fishing the whole population of the country was, doubtless, 
in motion, resorting to these places. Hence we incline to the opinion that this expression became 
in several places a fixed and permanent name, and was in some way typical of it. We think 
‘abundance of food’ is understood.” 
2 
3.—THE ALEWIFE FISHERY OF CAPE COD. 
By FREDERICK W. TRUE. 
THE ALEWIFE STREAMS.—The alewife fishery has been prosecuted by the people of South- 
eastern Massachusetts from the earliest colonnial days. The regularity with which the alewives 
visited the coast, and the abundance of the supply, soon caused them to rely upon the products of 
the fishery for sustenance to a considerable degree, especially in those years when other fisheries 
suffered decline. The statute-books of the Commonwealth contain many laws and regulations 
relating to the alewife fishery, whose object is its extension or preservation. 
The fishery proper consists in the capture of alewives while ascending the streams to spawn, 
“put large quantities are also taken in the weirs and pounds which are in use at many points along 
the coast, and likewise in gill-nets and seines. 
The interior and higher portions of the territory of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard are 
dotted with numerous fresh-water ponds, from which small streams run down to the sea. In 
* Plymouth retains a fishing privilege in this brook within Wareham. The alewives, we are told, were moro 
numerous in 1815 than for some years. ; 
