CHAP, xxxiv. KETURXS OF THE SEAL FISHERY. 211 



The spring fishing is carried on in nearly the same 

 way as in autumn, with this difference, that the entrance 

 of the fishery is to tlie westward, because then the seals 

 are going out of the Gulf. 



The fat of seals taken in the spring is softer and more 

 mellow than that of those taken in the autumn ; it is 

 melted in the sun in large wooden tubs, and forms the 

 pale seal oil of commerce. 



The spring and autumn seal-fishings are carried on 

 along the Canadian shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 from Blanc Sablon Bay to Cape Wliittle, and yield the 

 fishermen annually from 5,000 to 7,000 seals, of the value 

 of from 16.S. to 21. IO5. each. 



Seals are not taken in nets on the coast of Gaspe or 

 the Magdalen Islands, or on that part of the north shore 

 which lies between Cape Whittle and the Ptiver St. 



tion in all situations, as it has been found in brooks immediately after tbe 

 first frost and before lake ice lias become safe for travel ; it is also one of the 

 earliest formations upon those portions of shoals and rapids barely covered 

 with water. But in the deeper water above the head of rapids its abundant 

 formation (as indicated by its rising and coveiing the surface) occm's only 

 after several days of a temperature considerably below zero. 



In the little which has been wi'itten upon the subject of anchor ice, it has 

 been doubted both that it is formed upon the bottom, and that ice so formed 

 rises to the surface ; or whether the anchor ice seen upon the surface 

 was either formed or had rested upon the bottom. Among practical 

 men, millwrights and lumbermen, who have been puzzled by the pheno- 

 mena attendant upon it, there is similar diversity of opinion. It has, 

 however, been observed in situations where it would seem impossible that 

 it could have been deposited unless formed where found. It has been 

 found upon smooth rock in rapid water ten feet in depth ; and it has been 

 seen to burst up from the flat rock bed of the St. Lawrence, at the 

 head of the Longiie Sault Eapids, where there is a depth of twelve feet. I 

 have seen it rising to a surface already nearly covered with it, and at the 

 same time have felt it with a pole upon the stony bottom in upwards of 

 twelve feet of water. — Notes on Anchor Ice, by T. C. Keefer, Esc[., C.E. 

 Read before the Canadian Institute, February 1862. 



p 2 



