this way
bushels of herring could be procured at one time.

It is not to be supposed that in those days game fishing flourished to
any extent; that is, sportsmen did not go out with rods and flies to
catch little fish one at a time, when it was so easy to scoop them up by
dozens.

Shad, too, were very abundant in those days, but not so highly valued as
now. In fact, it is stated that when the settlers became more numerous,
and the herring fewer, these fish were held in higher repute than shad;
so that, when a man bought one hundred herring, he was expected to take
ninety-five herring and five shad, or something in that proportion, shad
being then rather a drug in the market.

In those early days there were denizens of the waters on the shores of
New Jersey very much more valuable than herring, shad, or any other of
these finny creatures, no matter in what dense throngs they might
present themselves. These were whales, of which there were numbers in
Delaware Bay, and even some distance up the river. When the Dutch De
Vries first came into these waters, he came after whales; and even at
the present day one of these great water monsters occasionally
investigates the western coast of New Jersey, generally paying dear for
his curiosity.

There were a great many snakes, many of them rattlesnakes, especially in
the hilly country. The early settlers had a curious way of making
themselves safe from these creatures. When they were going to make a
journey through the woods or along wild country, where they expected to
find snakes, they would take with them several hogs, and drive these
grunting creatures in front of them. Hogs are very fond of eating
snakes, and as they went along they would devour all they met with. It
did not matter to the hogs whether the snakes were poisonous or
harmless, they ate them all the same; for even the most venomous
rattlesnake has but little chance against a porker in good condition,
who, with his coat of bristles and the thick lining of fat under his
skin, is so well protected against the fangs of the snake, that he pays
no more attention to them than we to the seeds of a strawberry when we
are eating one.

Rattlesnakes were in fact the most dangerous wild animals with which the
early settlers had to contend; for they were very numerous, and their
bite, if not treated properly at once, was generally fatal. The Indians,
who well knew the habits of the snake, were not nearly as much afraid of