the American "smelt," swarms on all parts of the coast, 

 to which it resorts to spawn about the middle of June, 

 in almost unlimited quantity. It is then that the cod, 

 attracted by the caplin, is found along the shore in its 

 greatest abundance. The caplin supplies the bait for that 

 portion of the fishing which is carried on with hook and 

 line, the other modes of capture being by means of a trap 

 — a specimen of which is exhibited at the Fisheries Exhi- 

 bition — and a cod-seine, which is a net from one hundred 

 to one hundred and twenty fathoms long, having a depth 

 varying from fifty to one hundred feet in the centre, but 

 narrowing towards the extremities. This seine is swept 

 round a body of fish, and drawn together. The foot is 

 then hauled up, enclosing very often forty or fifty tons 

 weight of fish. Fixed cod-nets are also used to some 

 extent, while the degree of success which attends the 

 different methods is a varying and uncertain condition, 

 neither being sufficiently assured to warrant its absolute 

 and exclusive application. 



The coast-line for Newfoundland proper covers an extent 

 of two thousand miles, exclusive of Labrador, on which the 

 colony possesses one thousand miles of fishing ground. 

 Here the fishing population is migratory. Those of our 

 people who resort to Labrador go there in June and 

 return in October, the residents, whose lives are spent in a 

 primitive and unambitious manner, being a very small 

 number. 



The cure of the fish requires much care and judgment, 

 the weather being a very important factor in the operation. 

 Unbroken sunshine is not desirable, while a long continua- 

 tion of wet produces deterioration of quality ; the best 

 cure is effected when the weather is variable. It is not 

 more necessary that the fish should be exposed to the sun 



