No. VI.
After the sun-fish, as regular annual visitants of the small rivers
and creeks containing salt or brackish water, came the crabs,
in vast abundance, though for a very different purpose. These
singularly-constructed and interesting beings furnished me with another
excellent subject for observation; and, during the period of their
visitation, my skiff was in daily requisition. Floating along with an
almost imperceptible motion, a person looking from the shore might have
supposed her entirely adrift; for, as I was stretched at full length
across the seats, in order to bring my sight as close to the water as
possible without inconvenience, no one would have observed my presence
from a little distance. The crabs belong to a very extensive tribe of
beings which carry their _skeletons_ on the _outside_ of their bodies,
instead of within; and, of necessity, the fleshy, muscular, or moving
power of the body is placed in a situation the reverse of what occurs in
animals of a higher order, which have internal skeletons or solid frames
to their systems. This peculiarity of the crustaceous animals, and
various other beings, is attended with one apparent inconvenience--when
they have grown large enough to fill their shell or skeleton completely,
they cannot grow farther, because the skeleton, being external, is
incapable of enlargement. To obviate this difficulty, the Author of
nature has endowed them with the power of casting off the entire shell,
increasing in size, and forming another equally hard and perfect, for
several seasons successively, until the greatest or maximum size is
attained, when the change or sloughing ceases to be necessary, though it
is not always discontinued on that account. To undergo this change with
greater ease and security, the crabs seek retired and peaceful waters,
such as the beautiful creek I have been speaking of, whose clear, sandy
shores are rarely disturbed by waves causing more than a pleasing
murmur, and where the number of enemies must be far less, in proportion,
than in the boisterous waters of the Chesapeake, their great place of
concourse. From the first day of their arrival, in the latter part of
June, until the time of their departure, which in this creek occurred
towards the first of August, it was astonishing to witness the vast
multitudes which flocked towards the head of the stream.
It is not until they have been for some time in the creek, that the
moult or sloughing generally commences. They may be then observed
gradually coming closer in shore, to where the sand is fine, fairly
exposed to the sun, and a short distance farther out than the lowest
water-mark, as they must always have at least a depth of three or four
inches water upon them.
The individual having selected his place, becomes perfectly quiescent,
and no change is observed, during some hours, but a sort of swelling
along the edges of the great upper shell at its back part. After a time,
this posterior edge of the shell becomes fairly disengaged, like the lid
of a chest, and now the more difficult work of withdrawing the great
claws from their cases, which every one recollects to be vastly larger
at their extremities and between the joints than the joints themselves.
A still greater apparent difficulty presents in the shedding of the sort
of tendon which is placed within the muscles. Nevertheless, the Author
of nature has adapted them to the accomplishment of all this. The
disproportionate sized claws undergo a peculiar softening, which enables
the crab, by a very steadily continued, scarcely perceptible effort, to
pull them out of their shells, and the business is completed by the
separation of the complex parts about the mouth and eyes. The crab now
slips out from the slough, settling near it on the sand. It is now
covered by a soft, perfectly flexible skin; and, though possessing
precisely the same form as before, seems incapable of the slightest
exertion. Notwithstanding that such is its condition, while you are
gazing on this helpless creature, it is sinking in the fine loose sand,
and in a short time is covered up sufficiently to escape the observation
of careless or inexperienced observers. Neither can one say how this is
effected, although it occurs under their immediate observation; the
motions employed to produce the displacement of the sand are too slight
to be appreciated, though it is most probably owing to a gradual lateral
motion of the body, by which the sand is displaced in the centre
beneath, and thus gradually forced up at the sides until it falls over
and covers the crab. Examine him within twelve hours, and you will find
the skin becoming about as hard as fine writing-paper, producing a
similar crackling if compressed; twelve hours later, the shell is
sufficiently stiffened to require some slight force to bend it, and the
crab is said to be in _buckram_, as in the first stage it was in
_paper_. It is still helpless, and offers no resistance; but, at the end
of thirty-six hours, it shows that its natural instincts are in action,
and, by the time forty-eight hours have elapsed, the crab is restored to
the exercise of all his functions. I have stated the above as the
periods in which the stages of the moult are accomplished, but I have
often observed that the rapidity of this process is very much dependent
upon the temperature, and especially upon sunshine. A cold, cloudy, raw,
and disagreeable spell happening at this period, though by no means
common, will retard the operation considerably, protracting the period
of helplessness. This is the harvest season of the white fisherman and
of the poor slave. The laziest of the former are now in full activity,
wading along the shore from morning till night, dragging a small boat
after them, and holding in the other hand a forked stick, with which
they raise the crabs from the sand. The period during which the crabs
remain in the paper state is so short, that great activity is required
to gather a sufficient number to take to market, but the price at which
they are sold is sufficient to awaken all the cupidity of the crabbers.
Two dollars a dozen is by no means an uncommon price for them, when the
season first comes on: they subsequently come down to a dollar, and even
to fifty cents, at any of which rates the trouble of collecting them is
well paid. The slaves search for them at night, and then are obliged to
kindle a fire of pine-knots on the bow of the boat, which strongly
illuminates the surrounding water, and enables them to discover the
crabs. Soft crabs are, with great propriety, regarded as an exquisite
treat by those who are fond of such eating; and though many persons are
unable to use crabs or lobsters in any form, there are few who taste of
the soft crabs without being willing to recur to them. As an article of
luxury, they are scarcely known north of the Chesapeake, though there is
nothing to prevent them from being used to a considerable extent in
Philadelphia, especially since the opening of the Chesapeake and
Delaware canal. During the last summer, I had the finest soft crabs from
Baltimore. They arrived at the market in the afternoon, were fried
according to rule, and placed in a tin butter-kettle, then covered for
an inch or two with melted lard, and put on board the steam-boat which
left Baltimore at five o'clock the same afternoon. The next morning
before ten o'clock they were in Philadelphia, and at one they were
served up at dinner in Germantown. The only difficulty in the way is
that of having persons to attend to their procuring and transmission,
as, when cooked directly after they arrive at market, and forwarded with
as little delay as above mentioned, there is no danger of their being
the least injured.
At other seasons, when the crabs did not come close to the shore, I
derived much amusement by taking them in the deep water. This is always
easily effected by the aid of proper bait: a leg of chicken, piece of
any raw meat, or a salted or spoiled herring, tied to a twine string of
sufficient length, and a hand net of convenient size, is all that is
necessary. You throw out your line and bait, or you fix as many lines to
your boat as you please, and in a short time you see, by the
straightening of the line, that the bait has been seized by a crab, who
is trying to make off with it. You then place your net where it can
conveniently be picked up, and commence steadily but gently to draw in
your line, until you have brought the crab sufficiently near the surface
to distinguish him: if you draw him nearer, he will see you, and
immediately let go; otherwise, his greediness and voracity will make him
cling to his prey to the last. Holding the line in the left hand, you
now dip your net edge foremost into the water at some distance from the
line, carry it down perpendicularly until it is five or six inches lower
than the crab, and then with a sudden turn bring it directly before him,
and lift up at the same time. Your prize is generally secured, if your
net be at all properly placed; for, as soon as he is alarmed, he pushes
directly downwards, and is received in the bag of the net. It is better
to have a little water in the bottom of the boat, to throw them into, as
they are easier emptied out of the net, always letting go when held
over the water. This a good crabber never forgets, and should he
unluckily be seized by a large crab, he holds him over the water, and is
freed at once, though he loses his game. When not held over the water,
they bite sometimes with dreadful obstinacy; and I have seen it
necessary to crush the forceps or claws before one could be induced to
let go the fingers of a boy. A poor black fellow also placed himself in
an awkward situation--the crab seized him by a finger of his right hand,
but he was unwilling to lose his captive by holding him over the water;
instead of which, he attempted to secure the other claw with his left
hand, while he tried to crush the biting claw between his teeth. In
doing this, he somehow relaxed his left hand, and with the other claw
the crab seized poor Jem by his under lip, which was by no means a thin
one, and forced him to roar with pain. With some difficulty he was freed
from his tormentor, but it was several days before he ceased to excite
laughter, as the severe bite was followed by a swelling of the lip,
which imparted a most ludicrous expression to a naturally comical
countenance.