146 LETTER FROM W. T. GRENFELL, ESQ. 
important factor to take into consideration in the prosecution of the 
fisheries on the coast of Labrador. I feel certain, therefore, that 
the use of deep-sea thermometers in the Labrador fisheries would be 
of the greatest advantage to all interested in this industry 
in finding and locating the fish after the fishermen once learned 
how and where to use them, and by experience had obtained the 
required judgment and knowledge of the habits and movements of 
the cod in waters of various temperatures in the different localities 
on the coast.” ” 
Indeed Mr. Nielsen eventually proved most successful as a pisca- 
torial prophet, and could tell the fishermen who took us around on the 
banks where to fish with most success. He based his prophecies on 
the fact that uneven bottoms with lively vegetation and a rotatory 
current, where the temperature ranged between 36° and 39° F., and 
the specific gravity between 1°026 and 1:027, were the best. 
The water off the coast never exceeds 464° F., even on the hottest 
summer day, and in some places we found layers of hot in cold 
water, varying at different depths, or again at short distances apart. 
Thus in one place at the bottom (110 fathoms) the temperature 
was 31°7°, at 100 fathoms 36°, at 80 fathoms 31°, till at 15 fathoms 
it again became warmer. ‘Thus the fish would be stunned from 15 
fathoms, and would feed and live at 100 fathoms down. 
What is the source of the hot water? Is it from (1) hot springs, 
from (2) uncharted branches of the Gulf stream, from (3) unknown 
far-north warm sources, or from (4) land-water as rivers? What- 
ever is the source the great rush of thousands of fisherfolk to be 
first in following up the retreating ice of winter is sufficient to prove 
that cod are found far north, where we are apt to think no fish 
could exist, and that as they get further north the fishermen have of 
late years found the cod more abundant. It is thought on the coast 
that not only the cod but also the herring, which have been disap- 
pearing from southern Labrador of late years, are working further 
and further into Arctic regions. There seems little reason to doubt 
at any rate that the movements of the herring and caplin, which are 
the food of the cod, are largely influenced by meteorological condi- 
tions, as well as the other food on which in turn these fishes feed. 
It was remarkable that at Okak this year the vessels fishing were 
almost “ clean,” getting no fish at all, while both north and south 
of that station good catches were made. Perhaps had they had 
thermometers they could have foretold this result and saved their 
voyage. Possibly a temporary inset of some cold current from a 
change in the formation of the bottom would account for this. 
In the Arctic current we found numbers of specimens of animal 
life, and under stones and in small pools on the shore there were 
