New-York daily tribune., 1858-07-22

The scupn eats everything be can get at 10 the
shape Of food, and Will therefore bite at any bait.
He is very easily caught and comes 70 the surface
unresistinely, exhibiting when there, ridicnlousy
pieous aspect, gasping with he great mouth and
staring with MS gogge eyes. He is generally put
to death, or badly burt, before being Hung back
into the water in order 10 keep him from biting
again a. the hook. On this occasion the Professor
sought 10 induce The skipper 20 cook the creature
and try lis edible qualities, assuring hum that be
would find it not bad eating. The skipper was
deaf 10 the suggestion, and after knocking the
sculpin's head two three times against the side
Of the vessel, threw il overheard. j believe The
GreeDaDders are the only people who make the
sculpin an article OF diet though have heard that
the negroes of Boston are accustomed to eat those
they catch from the wharves and bridges, and that
they pronounce them very good. Mr.. Pefley says
that when the lioe fishers in the Bay of Fundy find
the scUlpin biting too freely they immediately
change their ground TO avoid it.
Our breakfast was o.: fried fish, boiled eggs,
"bard tack "-ss the sailors term crackers and biz.
cult distinction from loaf bread, which they call
"soft tack "-ond coffee, which we drank from
large yellow mugs. After breakfast. about nil e
O'Clock, the fog
"--rose up 10 many spectral shsPe
Ard crep. away in slepca DER
The sss from tiiyery white 20 deepest blue,
Cbsused 'pe.tn The changing coiors Of tie sky;
The distant lighthouse troke upon the view
And the org l4nd poin ia spread before the eye"
The village of Swampscott, with its small, white
fishing houses lining the shore OF the shallow bay,
which ia no harbOr but only barely perceptibe
ndentstion in the coast shone out in the sunshine,
backed by lovely green hills, their wooded slopes
dotted by cottages and villas. Nabant with its
beaches and clfs crowned by it's immense, fantastic
looking hotel, jutted far into the our left,
while TO the right the surf was lszily breaking,
gan nciDg and flashing against the rocky point on
which stands the Ocean House and its accompany
ing buildings Behind us lowered Egg Rock, with
Il white Egh house percbed on its narrow summit,
and whter waves foamDg around its base.
We lay moored amid feet of picturesque fishing
vessels about twenty 10 number most of them
scho0ners, and ranging in size from five 10 fifty
tuns. Craft Of this size and description are called
iiggers by the fishermen. They are employed in
the shore fisheries, in ''market fisheries" SO
called because the fish they take is not salted or
dried, but taken fresh to market and sold for im-
mediate consumption. In Summer the Swamp.
scott fisheries take their fish direct to Boston for
sale; but in Winter the Boston fish dealers go to
SwsmpscOtt to purchase. The number OF jggers
now owned in SwampscOtt is twenty-five, and they
are manned by upward of two hundred men. There
are besides sixty or seventy dories employed in fish
ing each worked by one man. The dory is a flat.
bottomed skif thirteen feet long, Our sloop had
one which usually towed at the stern, but in bad
weather was bOisted on board. The jiggers, when
they 90 out to fish in Winter, carry dory for each
man of the crew, and when the vessel anchors on
the fishing grounds, each man takes his dory and
rows to some distance ~ fish. man and boy
generally remain in the vessel and fish from her
side They catch cod, haddock, hake, halibut, pol
lack and mackerel.
Mr.. Tufts had come on board while we were at
breakfast, and wishing to see his aquariums, went
ashore with him in his dory: We landed on beach
in front Of his shop, which is almost at the water s
edge. and | spent halt an hour very agreeabiy in
examining his tanks, of which he has several in fine
condition. Mr.. Tufts-his post-offce address is
Samuel Tufts jr., Lynn, Mass.-is shoemaker,
with no more education from schools than every
boy in Massachusetts receives. He has educated
himself by boo ks and observation in natural history,
till he has become in his sspeciay-marine zoology
a very intelligent naturalist. For year or two
past be has devoted himself to collecting and selling
materials for stocking aquariums, the demand for
which has become considerable in our principal
cities. The Smithsonian Institution and the Boston
Society of Natural History have employed him in
this capacity. To those who order from him the
materials for stocking an aquarium, he sends keg
or barrel Of sea water, and box Of two cOmpart-
ments-One containing the sea weeds and some of
the animals, the other containing the more delicate
animals in a bottle or jar.
At 10 O'Clock the anchor was raised, and with
shore of Massachusetts, Bay, intending tO land, if
possible, ut Marshfeld, and next at Plymouth. to
take on board an artist who had agreed to meet US
at that place on the 5th of July. Soon after pass
ing Dread Ledge the scene OF numerous shipwrecks,
the Professor, who was baskDg in the sunshine on
the tafral of the sOOp, watching the medusP foat-
ing by, was suddenly startled by the apparton of
large shark within foot or two of his elbow. The
creature was probably attracted by the sight OF the
1ohir ~ f,rh hofnr yfi
ing, We had discarded our shore clothes, and re-
duced our integuments to pantaloons and red flannel
shirts The shark remained alongside but for a
minute or two, after which he was not seen again.
The wind was north hwest, and the day fair and
splendid and not too warm though it was very hot
l believe ON shore. As We passed Nahant Point
we saw great fleet of vessels coming out of Boston
HarbOr, spreading their white wings to fly 10 the
uttermost ends of the earth. AT III, however, the
wind shifted to the east, and the fog which had
been driven out to sea by the northwest wind came
rolling rapidly in again, involving everything IN its
binding embraces. Many of the vessels we had
seen returned with it, not liking to keep the sea
during its continuance. For ourselves. we skrted
slowly along the grim rocky barrier of Boston Har-
Dor with its frowning gray rocks, scanned by dlkes
of black basaltc trap, looking so much like iron
hoops on barrel as to readily suggest the epthet
Of an iron bound shore. AS the fog gained on US
and grew denser, We ran in and came to anchor be-
tween the island called the Outer Brewster and the
island on which Boston Light is situated. A fog
bell near the lighthouse had been for some time
sounding It's dismal warning which it continued so
long as the fog lasted.
The lighthouse is tall structure of brick,
hooped with iron. " helped to hoop it forty weight
years ago." said our pilot. Thomas Knox.
brother of Gen. Knox of the Revolutionary Army,
Was the first keeper of the light" Our pilot is
,ixty eight years of age of which ffty-fye years
have been spent on the sea. He is still as hale,
hearty and active as most men of fifty years His