they can n o tg o they send the wife or child to perform a similar
errand. Those - men who. prefer exclusively to fellow the noble
calling of fishermen number about eighty or ninety, but they are a
class who through years past have lived away from civilisation'; their
wives and children occupying small miserable huts, or nearly inaccessible
caves along the rocky shores, where they are altogether
far removed, partly through their occupation' and partly through
their long-acquired habits of indolence and demoralization, from any
beneficial influences. The men. themselves, although there are some
few exceptions, are for the most part satisfied to bring in just sufficient
fish as will afford food and obtain a supply of Cape wine
for a few days, when, after indulging'in excess in the latter, and
recovering from their half-stupefied state, they proceed out again for
the same purpose.
W’t-K the pre**«* 1W almesi ti»{K*sible%> accomplish
anything to improve- the -. at S t. Helena. I t needs, however,
but a small amount of capital, with suitable boat», and tackle, and
good steady SsImwwmhi with klaropoaisi «Mtfjgy, to v ■ ; It ¡successful; so
great a prejudice exists, however, through the indolence of the present
fishermen, that I donbt if any resident would undertake its management
; and until j t is done by the Government, it is scarcely likely
that a St- Helena fishery can become a source of' profit by yielding
an article of commerce.
There are cod-b^nks close to the Island,* and in the year 1810,
it. is recorded that codfish of 9i lbs. weight were caught in 111
fathoms, off-Lemon Yalley. .Such fish are never seen now, neither
are the boats or men capable of going out to seek for them.
.. OlLDER ACANTHOPTEiltOn.
Fam. Pmxtite.
Centropristis, Cuv. »
*C. brasiliensis, Barnev.— The Deep-water Brown Mullet,
* The banks tliat have alreadv_been discovered arefour in number, a* follows:—New
Ledge, about- six miles S.S.W. of the Island, with soundings of 26 to 46 i* thorns and a bottom
of rock and sand. Speery Ledge, about 4 miles nearer to the shore than the last, in 3^ or 4
'fathoms water. Barn Ledge, about 2 miles off Prosperous Bay, in sounding of 4 to 16
fathoms; and Goodwin’s Ledge, in soundings of 60 to 80 fathoms, about $ m&M distant from
the shore on the leeward side of the Island. The first three position*. ,»v tw windward, and
the weather often boisterous, so that the small fislnvig-boftts now in .giiijvot remain long
near them in safety and consequently they are unfrequented. 1 _ - J - \ , . ...................... sp 9 p-s e - c c ± L $ ,r o a s H s a k c t j e h e l e m . p .
2 SEBPUITUS IMEETIGIiTOSUS p. 703. 5 SA&OTS CA5S3JSXS........................... s.
S P K J A C A H T H U S ..........................sp ? . . . . . p. JOS. • 6 S C C R t J B H A t t S L U S S I i ............................... p .
L.Heeve &. C?, Lcsn&ai,
§ S I