THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 87 



cured there. 1 New England merchants sent their vessels 

 to Canso to be loaded with cargoes of dried codfish for 

 European and other markets. Among the most famous of 

 these merchants was Peter Fanueil of Boston. So impor- 

 tant a base of supplies did the Strait of Canso become for 

 New England that Fanueil soon sent an agent to reside 

 at Canso. At times he kept another assistant stationed 

 at Louisburg. These agents were kept informed of the 

 price of fish in the markets of Massachusetts ; they studied 

 closely the condition of the English and French supply of 

 fish on the coast, and acted as Fanueil's advertising agents. 

 Other Massachusetts fishermen, notably those from Marble- 

 head, became jealous of the importance and strength which 

 the Canso trade acquired within a few years. 



Fanueil was a great merchant of the day, shrewd, ac- 

 tive, and ready to engage in many kinds of business that 

 gave promise of good returns. He was a descendant of 

 Huguenots who had been driven from France. The busi- 

 ness of his uncle fell to him and he pursued it in original 

 ways. It was he who settled a vexatious dispute among 

 Boston tradesmen concerning markets and the best way 

 to conduct them by building and giving to the city that 

 famous structure known as Fanueil Hall. The lower floor 

 contained stalls for a market, the upper story contained 

 the hall afterwards called the Cradle of American Liberty. 



The trade interests of Fanueil were wide and varied. 

 Now he gave directions for a cargo of rum to be returned 

 in sole-leather; again it was a cargo of fish sent to the 

 West Indies for "a straight negro lad, fifteen years old, 

 having small-pox if possible"; or it might be that another 

 load of fish was sent to London to be returned in pepper. 

 Whether rum, leather, negroes, or pepper, the important 

 fact to be noticed is that fish not only entered into every 

 phase of life and form of industry, but also that fish was the 



i Douglass, Summary View, pp. 300-304. 



