232 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxv. 



from sixty to eighty tons each, manned by more than 

 10,000 seamen. In consequence of the civil war, and 

 the great demand for sailors in the Federal fleets, 6,000 

 '•green' hands were employed in the summer of the 

 present year (1861). The quantity of mackerel taken by 

 the American fishermen on the British coast of the Gulf 

 Captain Fortin estimates at 50,000 barrels, worth ^600,000, 

 whereas the mackerel fishery in Canada does not yield 

 5,000 barrels per annum ; and yet there is no valid 

 reason why it should not yield ten times that quantity 

 under proper protection, management, and enterprise. 



The following table allows the amount of imports of 

 mackerel into the United States from the British Pro- 

 vinces during the years 1856 to 1861 inclusive: — - 



There are now about 30,000 tons of shipping employed 

 in tlie mackerel fishery by the JSTew England States, and 

 the number of barrels of fisli, caught annually, varies 

 from 131,000 to 360,000. The mode in which the 

 New-Englanders follow this lucrative business is as 

 follows : — ' The men are shipped " on shares," as it is 

 termed ; tliat is, each man is entitled to one-half the fish 

 he takes, the otlier half going to the vessel. After about 

 a week's sail they arrive at their destination, whicli com- 

 prises the Gulf of St. Lawrence, from Cape Breton Island 

 on the south, and Prince Edward's Island on tlie west, 

 to the mouth of the St. Lawrence on the nortli. On theii' 

 arri\al bait is got up tnid ground. The '•toll-bait,'' as it 



