ndland fish is worth 30s. per hundred, your dry Canada [fish]
L3, 10s. and the wet L5, 10s. per hundred. I do not know nor hear
of any that is coming hither with fish but only the _Tiger_ which
went in company with the _Adam_ from this place and I know the
country will carry away all this forthwith.
And again from the records of the Company, this extract from _An
Account of Sums Subscribed and Supplies Sent Since April_, dated July
23, 1623:
... We have received advice that from Canada there departed this
last month a ship called Furtherance with above forty thousand of
that fish which is little inferior to ling for the supply of the
Colony in Virginia and that fish is worth not less than L600.
[Illustration: _The broyling of their fish over the flame of fire._
Library of Congress Photo
The first settlers did not have to learn from the Indians how to cook
fish, but this method was perhaps as appetizing as any they knew.]
[Illustration: _The manner of their fishing._
Library of Congress Photo
The first colonists saw the Indians engaged in fishing practices that
included spearing, luring with firelight, and entrapping in staked-off
enclosures.]
[Illustration: The sheepshead was one of the favorite seafoods of
Tidewater Virginians from the beginning. It was fairly abundant,
according to their records, and remained so until the twentieth
century, when it became almost extinct in Chesapeake waters.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Photos]
[Illustration: The ugly-looking but delicious-tasting sturgeon was the
fish that principally engaged the attention of the first colonists.
They were impressed by its abundance and were busy for a time in
shipping its roe to England for [1]caviar.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Photos]
[1] (we cannot be certain that much actual caviar was produced at
Jamestown. The chances are that the roe was merely salted down
and that the final processing took place in England)
[Illustration: Haul-seining or dragging fish ashore by enclosing them
in a long net, is a form of fishing that has thrived almost unchanged
through the ages. Its practice at Jamestown was limited by the lack of
nets.]
[Illustration: The toothsome Chesapeake Bay hard crab was, and is still
to a great extent today, taken by baits spaced along lines sunk to the
bottom and then raised and the tenacious crabs removed.]
[Illustration: Vast quantities of
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