146 FISHES OP THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



a quantity of live oak timber belonging to the TjEited States 

 government. Some of this was burned by the Confederates, and 

 the rest of it thrown into the river, where it stiil lies on the bottom, 

 affording hiding places for groupers and conger eels. 



The angler who has with diificulty played one of these congers, 

 weighing from four to ten pounds, and got him alongside the boat, 

 will find that he has caught a Tartar. The conger has an immense 

 mouth, filled with long and sharp teeth, and if you turn him loose 

 in the boat he comes at you open-mouthed, like a mad dog. I know 

 that the first one I caught would have driven Pacetti and myself 

 overboard if he had not luckily disabled it with an oar. After that, 

 P. always held the conger outside the boat with a gaff hook, while 

 he cut off its head with a big knife. We got five of them that day, 

 weighing from four to eight pounds, and when we took them home, 

 although the meat looked white and delicate, the good woman of the 

 house declined to cook them, saying that she "had no use for 

 snakes." 



In early times in England, the conger was considered a delicacy, 

 and history tells us that one of the English Kings died of a surfeit 

 of this fish. 



MuLLLET — Mugil Uneatus — (Cuv. and Val.) — Silver or white mxA- 

 let-'M. brasiliensis — (Ag.)— Although the mullet is not a game fish, 

 yet being indispensable to the angler as bait, it should find a 

 place among the game fishes. 



All along the Southern coast, in the inlets, bays and rivers, the 

 mullet is found in immense numbers, and being mostly in shallow 

 water, is easily captured with the cast net, an implement so useful to 

 the coast people that they could scarcely live without it. Its use re- 

 quires some strength of arm and considerable skill and practice,; 

 with it a man can almost always procure a mess of fish — not always, 

 for in a cold norther all fish will betake themselves to deep water, 

 where the cast net is useless. 



In winter the mullet is small and ill-flavored for human food, 

 though it is always good for fish bait ; but in summer and fall it is 

 large, fat, and so well flavored as to be the favorite food fish of the 

 natives. At this season it is salted and packed for winter use for 



