St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-06-27

oar breaks into an infinity of g1isten.
ing ripples that cross and recross each
other as they retreat like threads and
bars of molten silver. To lie at full
length in the boat at such time,
watching the light Wreaths of smoke
curl straight upward from a pipe. and
listening to the distant voices of the
night, that only serve to intensity the
surrounding silence, is poem, a
dream, or an idyL The air is heavy
with the perfume of jasmine and
orange blossoms from the almost in
visible shores. From them, too, come
the tremulous calls of the little
screech-owls, hidden in moss-hung
coVerts amid liYe-oak branches, the
Strident voices of katydds and tree
frogs, mellowed by the distance, and
underlaid by the deep bass of bull
frogs, and the HOMOGENEOUS, all-per-
vading hum of insects. Above all,
clear and sweet, rise the rich. full
notes of the mocking-bird from the
scented depths OF an orange grove.
Nearat hand occasional spiashes in the
watermark tbs leap of the silyer-scaled
mullet, attracted, as a moth to a
candle, by bae burning lantern in the
stern of the boat Other lights, gleam-
ing like Will-o'- the-wisps over the sur
face of the dark waters, reveal the
presence of other fishing boats, from
which come occasional snatches of
song, long-drawn plaintive negro melo-
dies, in full accord with the hour and
scene.
When the drift is ended by the turn
of the tide, by the net getting outofshape
and assuming positions unfavorabIe for
catch, or by its approach to a part
of the river where the water is compar-
atiVely shoal, and the bottom is COW
cred with rocks, or t.hangs," as the
fishermen call them, on vii oh it might
catch and become torn, the haul is be
gun. Starting at the end of the net
first thrown, the boat is rowad slowly
along its length by the striker
while the ''boss'' hauls it over the side
and slows it in the trays. The beauti-
full opaline shad, caught by the gilIs in
the entangling mesh, are thrown into
the bottom OF the boat, and the ."strik-
err keeps tally of the i number as one
after another is added to the shining
heap. At length the last ''shot" is
hauled, and the 'sstriker'' announcing
the total amount of the catch, the fish
ers know at once what reward they
have reaped for their hours of toll, and
they begin their long pulltoWard camp
in state of mind controlled entirely by
their success or lack of it.
On Sundays fish and fishermen enjoy
a legally compelled rest, for, by a law
of the State OF Florida, no nets may be
thrown from sunset on Saturday until
sunrise on Monday. Another law reg
ulates the size of the mesh in the nets,
and fixes it at i've inches. This, how
ever, does not wholly accomplish the
purpose for which it was intended, for
q fiye-inch mesh holds most of the fe-
male fish, big with roe, but allows the
more slender to slip through and es-
cape.
4 single haul often secures several
hundred shad, for which the fishermen
receive fifteen cents apiece i'll the Jack
sonyille market; but it sometimes hap
pens that none is caughta result that
IS aptly designated a "water haul. :"
Only small portion of the entire catch
finds d local market, as most of it is
shipped each day, in refrigerator cars,
to the North, and especially to New
York elty.-Kirb 1latnroe, IN HGqper's
Weetly.
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