The toiling groups of roughly clad rivermen, handling and shipping the fish, the midget fieets of clustering boats, and the endless labour of spreading, drying, and repairing the nets, are details of a quaint and fascinating picture. The greatest number of nets operated are at Alpine and Fort Lee on the Jersey shore, and at Nyack and Ossining in New York. The striped bass, while caught for market, is more of a fish for sportsmen, for he takes only live bait and makes a fight that will cause an angler's blood to leap. This fish is to be found as far as the brackish water runs. In the lower part of the river for many years the practice of fishing for bass in the spring fell into disuse. Only when the water began to be cold in the autumn

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did Piscator, equipped with rod and reel and store of shrimp or "shedder," seek some fortunate spot, by bearings which may have been transmitted from an earher generation, there to make long casts and indulge in large anticipations. But a few years ago some one recollected that in the old days the best time to fish for bass was in the spring. Two or three fish of phenomenal size rewarded the anglers who were hardv enough to brave public opinion, and from that day the striped bass has had a troubled life. Long ago the Indians found the bays and shallows of the river prolific breeding-grounds for oysters, and some of the tribes are said to have used the bivalves as one of their chief means of sustenance. Their frequent shell heaps, some of them not yet obliterated, bear witness to the favour in which this epicurean morsel was held by the aborigines. During the early years of New York's history, the poorer people depended largely upon the plentiful oyster supply as one of the cheapest varieties of food they could obtain, but now the supply is at best meagre and the oyster industry decadent.