BULLETIN OF TIIE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. ( 



work the approaching season. Part of the men work on wages, while 

 most of them work on shares, the share being a certain per cent., say 

 one-third or one-half of the fish caught by them during' the season, the 

 other part of course going - to the employer. During the winter months 

 the nets are netted or mended as the occasion may be; while in the 

 spring the buildings containing the sleeping apartments or bunks — ar- 

 ranged barrack fashion like the berths of a ship's cabin — and the eating 

 room and cook room attached are put in order. In the winter also the 

 nets, lines, hooks, &c, are all prepared for immediate use as soon as 

 the season opens. In the spring, again, the boats are taken from their 

 storing place, thoroughly repaired, repainted inside and out, the sails 

 and oars mended or furnished anew if so required; when dry they are 

 launched and moored by sunken buoys at a short distance from the 

 stage-head. The stage itself is repaired, new props and foundation logs 

 often being required as well as boarding for the floor proper, and fully 

 cleaned ; the empty puncheons, hogsheads, and barrels arranged to oc- 

 cupy as little space as possible in some sunny position, while the sheds 

 are also cleaned and swept. By the 1st of May, or the breaking up of 

 the ice in the bays and harbors, everything is ready for the advent of 

 the summer fisheries. 



We will now consider that the summer has begun, that the time is 

 the first day of June, and that the men are arriving ready to begin 

 work. Rough-looking fellows they are indeed. Tall and short, stout 

 and broad, full-faced, full-bearded, and correspondingly fleshy in pro- 

 portion. They are dressed quite alike, with suits of good thick cloth in 

 the shape of jumper and trousers, over which are hauled the overalls 

 and frock when in working trim on the shore, or oil jacket and panta- 

 loons with an old "sou'wester," as it is called, or rubber hat with a huge 

 rim that hangs over the body, allowing the rain from it to drip, at least 

 on the oil garments if not completely over them on to the ground. Four- 

 fifths or more of the men wear a thin belt and sheath-knife buckled 

 around their body, which, however, is used more for appearance sake 

 than anything else. It has been reported that occasionally on board 

 some ill-managed crafts, these knives are used for weapons of offense 

 and defense, as the case may be, but I have not heard it proven here at 

 least. Though the men look fierce, and ill tempered, they are gener- 

 ally of a better disposition than they are usually given credit for being. 



The first thing that a man asks for in Labrador on going anywhere is 

 something to eat. No matter if he has just arisen from a table of plenty 

 at the house of some friend, he can always find room for more. I have 

 seen some of the largest eaters I ever beheld in my life while upon this 

 coast. One man boasts of having eaten six ptarmigan — a bird about 

 the size of our ruffed grouse or larger — at a meal ; another says that he 

 could eat a dozen herring at a meal, a fish about the size of a medium- 

 sized mackerel, and, judging from what I have seen, I have no doubt but 

 that he could do it. Still further, one fellow, upon testing some maple 



