174 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
10 to 25 hogsheads. There are at present four purse-seines owned in the 
vicinity of Eastport, but the law which forbids the use of haul-seinee 
prohibits these also, and none of them are employed at present. 
Y.— TRANSFER OF HERRING FROM THE WEIRS TO THE CANNERIES. 
Unit of measure. — The unit of measure for sardine herring is 
the hogshead, equal at Eastport to five flour barrels or fifteen bushels. 
The fish are measured in baskets holding a bushel and a half, ten 
baskets constituting a hogshead. Farther west a somewhat larger 
measure is employed, the basket holding about a bushel and three- 
quarters, ten of them being counted as a hogshead. 
The collecting-boats. — Formerly the fish were brought to the can- 
neries by the men who caught them, but the desire of the canners to 
secure the largest possible quantities led them to introduce the prac- 
tice of sending for the fish, which has since become universal. A fleet of 
one hundred and twenty-five boats, with about two hundred men, are 
now regularly employed in collecting and running them to the factories. 
Some of these boats are very large, strongly built, and suitable for any 
weather, while all are well built and substantial. They average from 
eighteen to twenty-five feet in length, and readily carry from six to 
twenty hogsheads of fish. All have holds in the center, covered with 
hatches, to protect the herring from the sun and from the water. The 
largest ones, sailed by two men, are worth about $1,000; while the 
smallest, worth $125 or $150, are easily handled by one man. The 
average for the whole fleet would be about $275 to $300. 
A majority of these vessels belong to men living on the Canadian 
shore, in the vicinity of the weirs, though quite a number are owned 
and manned by Eastport parties. 
Prices of fish and wages of fishermen. —Some hours before the 
weirs are to be seined, the collecting-boats start out and make a circuit 
of the shore, for the distance of a mile or more, to see which contain fish. 
They usually select those having the largest quantities, and remain 
there until the herring have been taken out. The boatmen act as 
agents for the canneries, with instructions to purchase the fish as 
cheaply as possible. When the boats from several canneries meet at a 
weir, the fishermen find it advantageous to put up their fish at auction 
and sell them to the highest bidder; and rivalry between the boatmen 
usually leads them to bid until they have reached the extreme limit 
named by the factory, and the one who can afford to pay the highest 
price takes the fish. From personal motives they are also interested in 
securing as large a quantity of fish as possible, regardless of the price 
which they are required to pay, as their salary now depends largely 
upon the quantity of fish obtained. Formerly the boatmen were em- 
ployed at wages ranging from $50 to $60 a month for the man and 
boat, and in the case of the largest boats the factory employed a man 
or a boy to assist him, By this arrangement there was no stimulus for 
