Salt Water Fisheries of the Pacific Coast [pp. 149-163]

Salt Water Fisheries of the Pacific Coast.
The boat does not shorten sail. You
conclude that she is going to pass. Suddenly the foggy-voiced command of the
Italian skipper is heard; two men
scramble over the deck, the jib collapses
in an instant, the large lateen sail folds
itself like the wings of a sea-bird, and
the skipper with a dexterous turn of the
helm steers around the outer side of the
closed rectangle, through an opening
forty feet wide, bringing the bow of his
boat around to face the direction whence
he came; one more turn and the boat is
rowed with long oars to its moorings
beside her thirty or forty mates. The
"Morning Star" has arrived. This
name on her bow is the only bit of
English in sight or hearing.
The sun has got well up now, and
the crowd of purchasers on the wharf
has scattered; even the huckster with
his hand-baskets,or the more pretentious
owner of a bay-horse-frame tied with
bale rope to the broken shafts of a
rickety old cart, has bought the remnant of half-spoiled tom-cod and crawled
away.
Turning to examine the large shed of
somewhat pretentious external appearance, one is disappointed in the barnlike, dirty, white-washed interior. All
around the structure are sale counters
with marble tops, but no fish are in sight
save two or three boxes of boiled crayfish in the middle of the room, and a
patch of fish about a yard square at the
entrance, for sale by a sleepy old man,
lazily leaning his folded arms on the
counter while puffing a broken pipe.
All about the counters are piled high
with dry nets. Up among the rafters
like pigeon lofts are many more lockers
filled with nets, boxes, and various articles of the trade.
Without, sitting or standing about
some large boxes, is a group of five or
six Italians and Greeks, earnestly conversing in their own tongues. Now and
then one becomes more emphatic, and
with gesticulation lays down the law to
his interested listeners in a voice that
seems to have embodied an echo of the
roar of the surf. Some are wearing high
rubber boots folded down to the knee,
some wear blue, some wear red, sashes,
in all stages of decomposition, separating woolen shirts of no particular color
at all from anything that might pass for
trousers.
A slouch felt hat, sufficiently faded to
suit an artist, or a still more faded Tam
o' Shanter, covers a swarthy, weatherbeaten countenance, behind a heavy,
black, piratical moustache.
Many of the boats present quite a busy
appearance. The crew of the "Morning
Star" are washing their net, one man
switching it about in the water, and another coiling it in the stern, and picking
out any small fish not already washed
from its meshes.
On other boats they are washing down
the decks, and scrubbing them with long
round swabs like stiff sink-brushes. One
man has just taken out of the hold a
queer utensil, apparently a cross between a round cast-iron slop-hopper and
a plumber's furnace. He swings it about
in the water, and then fills the upper
part, above the grating, with charcoal,
and sets it on deck, in the wind. After
starting the fire, it is put down in the
hold next to the mast, and breakfast is
prepared.
On the deck of another felucca four
men are eating from a white china bowl
filled with a sort of stew mixed with
lumps of water-bread. A half-consumed
semi-circular loaf of water-bread is resting on an oar one side of the boat. The
men are grouped about this dish on the
after hatch; two of them have forks, and
two case knives. Each man dips in at
will, and fishes out a morsel between his
thumb and knife or fork, which he holds
in his fist. There are two bottles of
claret beside them,with peculiar whistleshaped mouth pieces, which they frequently raise above their heads, and put
into the side of their mouths. One
150
[Augr.