HOW TO SKIN FISH.

When you camp by the seaside, you will catch cunners and other fish that
need skinning. Let no one persuade you to slash the back fins out with a
single stroke, as you would whittle a stick; but take a sharp knife, cut
on both sides of the fin, and then pull out the whole of it from head to
tail, and thus save the trouble that a hundred little bones will make if
left in. After cutting the skin on the under side from head to tail, and
taking out the entrails and small fins, start the skin where the head
joins the body, and pull it off one side at a time. Some men stick an
awl through a cunner's head, or catch it fast in a stout iron hook, to
hold it while skinning.

Cunners and lobsters are sometimes caught off bold rocks in a net. You
can make one easily out of a hogshead-hoop, and twine stretched across
so as to make a three-inch mesh.[25] Tie a lot of bait securely in the
middle, sink it for a few minutes, and draw up rapidly. The rush of
water through the net prevents the fish from escaping.


EXPENSES.

The expenses of camping or walking vary greatly, of course, according to
the route, manner of going, and other things. The principal items are
railroad-tickets, horse and wagon hire, trucking, land-rent (if you camp
where rent is charged), and the cost of the outfit. You ought to be able
to reckon very nearly what you will have to pay on account of these
before you spend a cent. After this will come the calculation whether to