THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 83 



at Augusta and maintained it for several years at his own 

 expense. 1 On the Kennebec River a sturgeon fishery was 

 set up and carried on with such success that many thou- 

 sand kegs of the cured sturgeon were made in a season, 

 esteemed as good as any that came from Hamburg or Nor- 

 way. A trade with Boston and foreign ports was estab- 

 lished, with high hopes for continued success. 2 This suc- 

 cess did not continue very long. The merchant, originally 

 from Boston, who established the business, contracted to 

 furnish some London fishmongers five thousand kegs 

 of fish annually. Fish twelve feet long, weighing four 

 hundred pounds, were caught. In 1721, the merchant 

 shipped to England 1,500 kegs weighing forty to fifty 

 pounds each. The fish, although good when caught, had 

 been oversalted in curing them. They were unmerchant- 

 able, and the business in Maine was discontinued. 



The fisheries of New Hampshire increased after the 

 treaty with France. In 1717 the Council of the Province 

 laid an embargo on all outward bound vessels, except those 

 engaged in fishing voyages. 3 No less than twenty vessels 

 were engaged in foreign commerce in 1721. There were 

 about one hundred fishing vessels belonging in the province, 

 with about four hundred seafaring men.* 



When the French missionaries saw the revival of coloni- 

 zation along the coast and noticed the hopeful growth of 

 the struggling frontier towns, they were stirred with envy 

 and jealousy toward their English rivals. They soon 

 aroused the Indians to action against the English subjects 

 by insinuating that the land belonged to the Indians and 

 that the English had invaded their property. The frontier 

 once more smoked with burning cabins, while the settlers 



1 Niles' History of Indian and French Wars. 



2 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th series, V, p. 338. 

 3Prov. Papers, N. H., II, p. 701. 



* Doc. N. Y., V, p. 595. 



