Morning journal and courier., 1883-01-27
CORRESPONDENCE.

More About the Preparations for the Fisheries Exhibition at London. WASHINGTON, D. G., Jan. 9. Tothe Editor Of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 There is not great deal more to be said
 about the preparations being made for the
 great London exhibition by the government
 that will be of special interest to your read CTS. I have by no means exhausted the sub ject, though, can assure you. I may say, in
 fact, that have simply given you very
 bald outline of what is being done. Were New Haven as much interested in the fisher
 ies now as she might have been, indeed as
 she ought to have been, there is not thing l in the whole exhibit that would be totally devoid of interest to many of the inhabitants
 of the Elm City. say ought to have been
 with good reason, I think, for New Haven
 permitted golden opportunity to slip out
 of her grasp when she discouraged the young | whale and seal fisheries that began to assume important proportions in the last years of
 the eighteenth and the early years of the
 nineteenth centuries. have been told (and
 repeat the story though apparently quite
 irrelevant here) that when Colonel Sam Holt
 was about establishing his firearms manu-
 factory he would have preferred to locate in
 New Haven. Requiring at that time some
 material assistance, he applied to some of the WSAlGLY men OL N0R IlAf6A.s-H1l0 ToCckFo0 him coldly and threw cold water on the scheme because it did not possess sufficient guarantee of ultimate success and profit. In fact they were timid and hesitated about in-
 vesting. While they were deliberating in their own minds and debating among them
 selves the Colonel presented his plans to cer- tain citizens of Hartford, who at once met
 his overtures half way, and by their bold
 ness and confidence secured for Hartford one of the greatest of her industries. The story
 comes to me from the best authority, and
 have every reason to believe it. So
 mention it now to illustrate New Haven's
 timidity in early days and to contrast it
 with her push of to-day. The most direct
 bearing is, however, on the early whale
 and seal fisheries. I know from having
 heard the story from descendants of some
 of the persons interested and from having
 had the privilege of reading diary of one
 of the principal of them, that in the years
 have mentioned above there was fitted
 out in New Haven vessel for the seal fish
 cries of the Pacific ocean. She went to the
 hair seal islands first and brought to New
 Haven cargo of skins, leaving portion of
 her crew to gather skins on the fur seal is-
 lands Returning, she took the cargo they
 had gathered to Canton, disposed of the skins
 and then loaded for home. The trip was suc-
 cessful, but it was 8 lengthy undertaking and
 demanded patience and confidence on the
 part of the investors to an extent greater
 than their capacity, so the venture was not
 repeated. What was the result ? Others saw
 the profit to be derived and the seal hunters
 were fitted out in Gloucester Marblehead,
 etc. The same story bears as directly on the
 whale fisheries. New Haven had the oppor- tunity once of securing nearly if not quite all of that trade, but she missed it through over-caution. And I suppose there is little doubt but that the Bank fisheries of the Mas sachusetts ports would not have been quite so concentrated in the grip of that common wealth had some of the whalers been kept in New Haven. The diary I have alluded to has been loaned to Professor Baird, commissioner of fish and fisheries with permission to copy and publish whatever may be of interest to the public, and he has availed himself Of that permission to a considerable extent. The extracts he has made will be published in the bulletin of the Fish Commission and will no doubt, interest many New Haven people The history of the whale fisheries to be published by the commission, or as part of the report of the tenth census, will also show something that might have been. Both these documents will send to you when I can get them.
 I was very much surprised to learn the other day that the value of canned products of the fisheries annually exported exceeds two million of dollars and is constantly in- creasing This information was the very best explanation of the case being given to those articles in preparing the exhibit of the United States for London. It is useless to try to enumerate tEen, they are so many and so varied, and as Great Britain, strange as it may seem, is one of the principle customers, it will be of great benefit to spread our ca- pabilities as compicuouslY as possible.
 One of the modelers of the National Muse um is preparing set of seven figures to illustrate some of the types of American fishermen. These are all life size and in making them casts have been taken from living models. They are extremely well done and so thoroughly realistic as to appeal forci- skipper standing at the wheel, of which he has relaxed his hold to watch, through a pair of field glasses, school of mackerel just heaving in sight. The next is large, brawnv
 figure personating one of the hands of Q mackerel schooner using the dip net to ladle up the fish from the large purse seine (dis- cribed in my last) after the haul has been made. The next represents the mate reading the patent log to determine the schooner's whereabouts. The next shows a stout young halibut fisherman armed with heavy club, called Q 'killer." with which the hali- but is killed before lifting it into the dory. The next shows man stripping salmon of it's spawn for use in artificial propagation. The last two are darkies and illustrate the southern shad fisheries. It is quite amusing to listen to the modeler's story of how he picked up his models for the last two in the street, and of his trials and tribulations in getting them to sit still while he made the casts, for of these he has made full copies of the whole subject, while of the others he has only copied the head, forearms, hands, legs and feet. Drowsiness, I think 1t will be admit ted, is inherent in the darkey; and the boy Gone figure being man, the other a boy) | preserved this characteristic to an extraordi- nary degree. He would remain fixed and | rigid as long as the plaster was cold, but just | as soon as the warmth of his body | had assimilated the temperature of the plaster | to his own, he would become drowsy, his | muscles would relax and pretty soon he l would give a nod or lurch that instantly | turned the modeler's "cake into dough-" with Joe, and don't know how many times he had to recast his head and other parts of 1is anatomy before success crowned his ef- ,orts. He resorted to argument, story telling, persuasion and even threats with equal ill., 'uccess until some accident caused Joe either o preserve his rigidity awake, or else go to leep in the original attitude without disturb ng the plaster. Fancy, if you can, going to IIeep with several pounds of plaster spread ,ver your face and compelled to draw your breath through two suills stuck up your nos rils?
 Before saying good bye to tho Lo ndon ex- libit wish to allude briefly to but one or two I destruction of fish contrasted in the elabo- ate fish-ways now put in almost all streams o enable fish to pass natural fills of suffi ient height to impede them. or artificial lams, and the tremendous efforts to secure he best implements for catching and killing he fish after they have been procured. There are now ready for exhibition about a core of more less practical fish-ways, many eff not alb of which have been patented. Then most of the States have passed stringent avs to protect fish from ruthless slaughter, nd are enforcing them with comn1endable cal. But in opposition to these there is an rray of instruments for the capture of the 'oor. creatures that is simply appalling. rom the tiny minnow hook to the enormous hark hook, there is line of gradually in reasing hooks, some for bait, others for rtifcial flies. and others bare decoys, and Q assist in the capture, innumerable rods, cells and gaffs- That ''eternal balance'' of 7hich Spencer and Emerson and others ave so much to say is exemplifed here. but
 don't believe either of those philosophers fould thank me for dragging them into such
 place
 The other thing, and the last, is the outfit f small camping party. It consists of a