May 9, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
729 
Joseph Hyde Pratt, had been in those waters 
looking after the proper setting of the shad 
nets. 
On our arrival at Cape Hatteras, the village 
there being known as Buxton, we had for supper 
wild goose, admirably cooked, and the last of 
the season. We visited the lighthouse, the most 
important in the United States, perhaps, and 
had a grand view from it 200 feet above ground. 
To the northward I counted twenty-three New 
York fishing smacks after bluefish, each of these 
having half a dozen boats which were trolling, 
using bone squids, and having very fair luck 
with the fish. These vessels work all the way 
from that point to the Virginia capes. The 
woods on Hatteras are magnificent. The beach 
is wider there than anywhere else along the 
entire coast, its greatest width being three miles, 
and the hills are numerous and steep. The 
strangest features at the Cape are the "water- 
gardens.” These stand here and there in the 
lakes, which are in the main shallow, are fenced 
about and all the vegetables are grown on ele¬ 
vated ridges. 
Cape Hatteras is the true dividing line be¬ 
tween the North and the South. North of it 
there is not a trace of the palmetto and other 
forms of vegetation which, sub-tropical in char¬ 
acter, cease there also. Mason and Dixon s line 
is an imaginary sort of a thing in the North, 
but Hatteras is the outer mark of the real 
dividing line, and it affords a fine opportunity 
for study. The United States has a marine 
laboratory at Beaufort, but it does not a little 
work in the waters around Hatteras. 
Leaving this interesting place, most of the 
inhabitants of which are connected in some way 
with either the lighthouse or the lifesaving ser¬ 
vice, we were told by one of the lighthouse men 
that the plan of having a lighthouse built out 
on Diamond Shoals, which make the Cape so 
deadly to vessels, has been abandoned. He told 
us that a few days before, the weather being 
fine and the water clear, he had sailed over one 
of the Diamonds and had seen the decks of 
many vessels level with the bottom, some of 
these being steel “tramps” which had struck and 
sunk. It takes only a few days for one to go 
out of sight. Everything is quicksand there, and 
this is the secret. The vessels simply sink until 
they strike hardpan and then rest. There are 
hundreds of them, the deadly toll the ravenous 
Cape and its roaring sea levy upon commerce 
and human life. The waves sometimes break 
there in thirty feet of water and fling themselves 
to a height of more than a hundred feet, as 
measurements have shown, and very often it 
storms at the Cape while it is quiet a dozen or 
twenty miles away. 
On the way to Roanoke Island we passed 
many historic points, and there was a procession 
of lifesaving stations, so to speak, these being 
only about half a dozen miles apart. Then we 
began to strike the shad nets, gill and pound 
nets. A great deal of sentiment exists against 
the use of the latter nets. They are known 
also as Jdutch nets and were brought into North 
Carolina by a Dutchman named Hefter some 
thirty years ago. I was told by a number of 
persons that if they were suffered to remain a 
few years longer they would exterminate the 
fish, for they hold on to the little and big ones 
alike. There are plenty of people who would 
catch every fish in one season if they could, and 
the Legislature had to enact a special law to 
prevent a New York company from putting in 
a seine nearly twenty miles long, designed to 
spread from shore to shore of the sound, and 
last year had to enact another law to prevent 
seine owners from completely blocking Oregon 
Inlet, through which the shad enter Albemarle 
Sound, the most important shad fishery on the 
Atlantic coast. For the first time in six years 
this inlet is now open. 
We went to Nag’s Head and to the fresh 
ponds, these being lakes of astonishingly clear 
and sweet water, from two to twenty feet deep, 
midway between the sea and the sound, the 
latter being almost entirely fresh water. It is 
asserted that their sources are springs. It is 
telling the truth to say that perhaps in no place 
in the world are there so many fresh water 
fish in so small a compass as in these lakes. 
They are owned by a company, but visitors to 
Roanoke Island can obtain special privileges re 
garding them. The fish bite as well at worms 
greatest shad fishery in the world, that at 
Avoca, which has belonged to the Capeharts 
since 1820. It has been fished for over a hun¬ 
dred years. We were met there by Mr. William 
Capehart. The seine is 2,300 yards long and 
cost $3,700. It takes four hours to make a haul, 
and this goes on continuously, making six hauls 
each day, except Sunday. Mr. Capehart told 
me that the largest haul of shad there was made 
by his grandfather, George W. Capehart in 
1858, when 6,004 were taken. The largest haul 
of herrings was 188,000. At five consecutive 
hauls made in April, 1901, there were taken of 
shad 2,210, 3,375, 4,519, 4.526 and 4,445. The 
records of this fishery have been kept from its 
beginning. From it the United States Fish 
Commission gets hundreds of millions of eggs, 
and officials of the commission are always 
present. 
Thus it will be seen that a spring journey 
through our North Carolina waters is a very 
valuable object lesson, not only for home folk, t 
GLACIER LILIES ON A MOUNTAIN SIDE IN WASHINGTON. 
Photographed by Asahel Curtis. 
as anything else. There are many kinds, in¬ 
cluding magnificent black bass, white perch, 
crappie, raccoon perch, wall-eyed pike, etc. As 
a breeding place the situation is ideal. The way 
to the pond leads through a striking region with 
enormous hills, covered with stately trees, but 
at the northern end of the pond the scene 
changes like magic, and there is a flat waste of 
sand all the way to the roaring sea to the north¬ 
east, while on the sound side the sand is over¬ 
riding and destroying the forest. Northward 
are the Kill Devil hills, and southward those 
of Nag’s Head, sand dunes so high that they 
are landmarks for sailors. 
We went to Norfolk through the Dismal 
Swamp canal, which was planned and surveyed 
by George Washington, this completing our 
water route. The United States will build an 
inland waterway for small vessels all the way 
from Norfolk to Beaufort, and work is soon 
to begin. In the sounds and in the canal we 
passed many beautiful yachts bound north. 
Our trip was dosed by a visit to Edenton, at 
the head of Albemarle Sound, and to the 
but for those from a distance. It is very 
obvious that the State will have to take stricter 
measures to protect the fish and oysters. 1 he 
Vann bill, which has opened the inlets to the 
entrance of fish, has proved a blessing, but more 
remains to be done. The upper sounds, notably 
Albemarle, show miles of nets. The little creeks 
are all a-flutter with herrings. The great hauls 
are no longer made. The Capehart seine is 
the only big one now running. That at the 
Wood fishery has been taken' off and gill and 
pound nets have replaced it. 1 he Capeharts 
have another fishery on Roanoke River, known 
as Scotch Hall, but this is not now in operation, 
though it has been very important. The largest 
haul we saw made at Avoca was 464 shad and 
20,000 herring. Some carp were also taken. 
Everybody in those waters despises this fish 
and curses the day when it was introduced by 
the United States Fish Commission. Carn, 
however, are packed and sent to Philadelphia 
and New York, where Germans eat them. At 
the herring fishery the up-country people were 
buying herrings for $3 per thousand and carry- 
