NATIONALITY" AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 17 



'jacl system of engaging fishermen. Up to five or six years past the majority of this class hired 

 themselves only until the 15th of August, for what was called summer fishing, the proceeds of 

 which went altogether to merchants in payment of accounts. On the 15th of August, let the hills 

 be settled or not, fishermen began working for themselves, and were thus enabled to purchase their 

 winter provisions wherever they liked, the fish being usually sent to Quebec. Thus they eked out 

 a living, and, working at home, were enabled to cultivate a little plot of ground, which yielded a 

 small return for their industry. The Robins, however, soon found out that this system made the 

 fishermen a little too independent, and anticipating a chance of tightening the bonds under which 

 they were kept, gradually changed their mode of engagement to another, which the improvident 

 and too confiding fishermen adopted without paying sufficient attention to its effect. The mode of 

 engagement now followed on the coast of Gaspe is the half-time system. Most of the fishermen 

 are sect to the large establishments of Perce", Newport, Pabos, and of the North Coast, to fish there 

 until the end of August or September, so that when the fishing is over there is hardly anything 

 left for them to do. The weather is apt to be so stormy at this period of the year that weeks may 

 elapse before they are enabled to fish, and there is no occupation for them on shore. 



"This system, which at first sight may seem advantageous, is nevertheless disastrous to the 

 fishermen, as it prevents them from cultivating their small plots of land, and compels them to pro- 

 cure everything from merchants, who arc thus enabled to take advantage of the position in which 

 they are placed. This system is still more prejudicial in so far as it increases the exports of Jersey 

 firms, thereby diminishing the supply on our markets and enhancing the price of codfish. It is 

 also, as may be easily understood, ruinous to the coasting trade. 



" There is no need to repeat here what I wrote last year about these firms, their mode of trading, 

 and their narrow and ambitious views. What I then said and what I write to-day will, 1 venture 

 to say, be sufficient to enable you to understand the position of a large and wealthy portion of our 

 Dominion, the situation in which is placed a whole population reduced to an undisguised state of 

 vassalage, the want of resources and education affording them no means of resisting this oppres- 

 sion. It is certainly not useless on my part to try once more to urge your solicitude towards this 

 unfortunate class of our own people, whose position is an anomaly of the age in which we live."* 



In the winter of 1SC1-'G2 there was great destitution and suffering among the Newfoundland 

 fishermen, particularly those living about Placentia Ray, owing chiefly to the poor fishing in the 

 summer of 1801. f 



Transient fishermen. — A great many fishermen are every year shipped by American vessels 

 in the Provincial seaports, and a considerable proportion of these men, though yearly making up a 

 part of the crews of our fishing fleet, never became residents of the United States.! 



The fishermen of Newfoundland. — The following account of the Newfoundland fisher- 

 men gives an idea of their peculiarities, most of which are retained by the men of that region who 

 enter the American fishing fleets: 



"The speech of the Newfoundland fisherman is full of phrases derived from his everyday 

 employments. To make an engagement for a term of service is to 'ship' with Mr. So-and-so. Even 

 servant girls are said to 'ship for six months' when they engage with a mistress. A young man 

 'ships' himself to a sweetheart when they are affianced; and a church is said to have -shipped' a 



* Report of Commissioner of Fisheries of Canada for 1875, pp. 39, 40. 



t Cape Ann Advertiser, January 24, 1862. 



JTlie Gloucester Telegraph of June S, 18T0, remarks: " Our correspondent at Port Hastings, Cape Breton, sends 

 us the following fishing items: Schooner Yazoo, of Provincetow a, Captain Morrison, arrived here. May 2! ; took men 

 and supplies and sailed north on a fishing voyage 27th. Schooner Julian, of Provincefown, Captain Donlin, arrived 

 21st and took men and supplies for a fishing voyage to Grand Bank. Schooner Orioia, of Proviucetown, Captain 

 Donlin, arrived 21st and took men and supplies for a fishing voyage to Grand Hank." 

 SEC IV 2 



