248 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
For many years from three to six hundred of these fish have been taken 
annually on the New England coast. It is not unusual for twenty-five or 
more to be seen in the course of a single day’s cruising, and sometimes as 
many as this are visible from the mast-head at one time. Capt. Ashby 
saw twenty at one time, in August, 1839, between George’s Banks and the 
South shoals. One Gloucester schooner, the “Midnight,” Capt. Alfred 
Wixom, took fourteen in one day on George’s Banks, in 1877. 
Capt. John Rowe obtained twenty barrels, or four thousand pounds, of 
salt fish on one trip to George’s Banks ; this amount represents twenty fish 
or more. 
Capt. Ashby has killed one hundred and eight Sword-fish in one year; 
Capt. M. C. Tripp killed about ninety in 1874. 
Such instances as these indicate in a general way the abundance of the 
Sword-fish. A vessel cruising within fifty miles of our coast, between 
Cape May and Cape Sable, during the months of June, July, August, and 
September, cannot fail, on a favorable day, to come in sight of several of 
them. Mr. Earll states that the fishermen of Portland never knew them 
more abundant than in 1879. This is probably, in part, due to the fact 
that the fishery there is of very recent origin. 
There is no evidence of any change in their abundance, either increase 
or decrease. Fishermen agree that they are as plenty as ever, nor can 
any change be anticipated. The present mode of fishing does not destroy 
them in any considerable numbers, each individual fish being the object of 
special pursuit. The solitary habits of the species will always protect 
them from wholesale capture, so destructive to schooling fish. Even if 
this were not the case, the evidence proves that spawning Sword-fish do 
not frequent our waters. When a female shad is killed, thousands of pos¬ 
sible young die also. The Sword-fish taken by our fishermen carry no 
such precious burden. 
“The small Sword-fish is very good meat,” remarked Josselyn, in 
writing of the fishes of New England in the seventeenth century. Since 
Josselyn probably never saw a young Sword-fish, unless at some time he 
had visited the Mediterranean, it is fair to suppose that his information 
was derived from some Italian writer. 
It is, however, a fact that the flesh of the Sword-fish, though somewhat 
oily, is a very acceptable article of food. Its texture is coarse ; the thick, 
fleshy, muscular layers cause it to resemble that of the halibut in consist- 
