BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 9 



afternoon, this is a necessary precaution, (lie stay being according as 

 t lie tish bite well or poorly. Alter reaching the fishing-grounds the 

 men "down sail," out grapline — a sort of five-barred iron, with curved 

 prongs, which serves as an anchor — and prepare their hooks and lines 

 Cor fishing. The hook is a large, heavy iron or steel affair, usually 

 several inches long and quite wide at the end; the line is small for 

 shallow and heavy for deep-sea fishing, with a huge lead sinker at. 

 tached. The bait for the cod are of two kinds. Early in the season 

 the capelan, a fish some 6 or 8 inches long and about the size of our 

 well-known smelt or frost-fish, and much later the "seruse," a species 

 about one-half the size of the capelan. Each species must be hauled 

 fresh every day, usually the night before, either in a seine for the pur- 

 pose, or in a dip-net when the fisherman is not able to procure a seine. 

 Of course the boats that we are following are well supplied with bait, 

 and the men having baited their hooks, throw them overboard, and 

 wait the result with impatience. Each man stands in the outer hollow 

 of his boat, he tends a line on each side and sometimes two, while as 

 soon as a fish is caught it is hauled in and, being thrown forcibly over a, 

 crane in the shape of a figure Y with an iron bar between the ends, which 

 tears the hooks from the gills, it falls into the hollow beyond. If the 

 fish bite well the sport now begins to be lively. As fast as a hook is 

 baited and thrown into the water one of the others is generally ready 

 to be hauled in. To haul this up quickly, hand over hand, fling the 

 line over the Y, thus depositing the fish in the hollow, rebait the hook 

 and fling it out again is the work of but a few moments. Meanwhile, 

 perhaps one or all the other hooks have fish upon them, and the catcher 

 is obliged to fly from one to the other with the speed of lightning. If 

 the shoal fishing is bad the boatman hauls up his anchor and goes out 

 into the deep water. Here he laboriously throws his line iuto 30, 40, 

 and even 70 fathoms, or 420 feet of water ; add to this a heavy leaden 

 weight of 8 or 10 pounds to counteract the effects of the tide and 

 currents, and a struggling fish of 50, 00 or more pounds, as I have 

 often seen these immense deep-sea fish, all to be drawn quickly, hand 

 over hand, the line, small at best, cutting deep into the fingers, and you 

 begin to see that cod fishing is no easy matter. After all this hard ex- 

 ercise, let them row their boat home in a calm or beat about in a dense 

 fog, as is often the case, for 6, 8, or 10 miles, and you are certain that 

 the work is not all sport. Again, if a crew started off early and have 1 

 forgotten to take any food with them, hoping soon to be back, and the 

 fog and rain have kept them out all day, until wet to the skin, in spite 

 of oil clothes, and very hungry and tired, they do not return until late 

 into the night, it will be easy to see that these men must possess an en- 

 durance almost beyond comprehension, to live, thrive, and grow hearty 

 under such treatment from wind, tide, and weather; while a few hours 1 . 

 sleep, just as they are, prepares them for the next day. Such, then, is 

 the continual life of a Labrador fisherman during four months in the sum- 



