304 



SCOMBEROIDES, 



employment to thousands, who could not contribute 

 to the general prosperity of the state in any oth- 

 er way.* 



The thousands of barrels annually exported to 

 the West Indies, give peculiar activity to our 

 commerce. 



The Surmullet, — Mullus Surmuletus, a 

 variety of the mackerel, w T as held in the high- 

 est possible estimation by the Romans, those 

 princes of good living. Pliny says that a Ro- 

 man Consul paid for only one of them, a sum 

 equal to $216,68, and Suetonius furthermore re- 



* The following is the number of 

 ed in this state during the last 

 halves are reduced to whole barrels 



1804 



8,079£ 



1805 



8,936£ 



1806 



8,473 



1807 



10,904£ 



1808 



7,738£ 



1809 



8,865£ 



1810 



13,058| 



1811 



19,632 



1812 



5,018£ 



1813 



3,832^ 



1814 



1,349 



1815 I2ts.l6,349£ 



1816 



30,021 



1817 



37,982 



barrels 



of mackerel pack- 



twenty 



six years. The 



1818 



47,210 



1819 



105,433 



1820 



236,243 



1821* 



111,009^ 



1822 



160,294£ 



1823 



145,006 



1824 



191,650£ 



1825 



254,381^ 



1826 



15S,740£ 



1827 



190,310£ 



1828 



237,324^ 



1829 



225,882 



1830 



308,462 



* The first year after the diyision of the States from Maine. 



