WINTER FISHERY. 79 



party felt an inclination to drink. The tables 

 were then cleared away, and the dance was kept 

 up with vigour to a late hour, or rather to an 

 early one, for the party did not separate till the 

 morning was advanced. Mr. Bell and Bruce were 

 the musicians. The latter, with that aptness which 

 the half-breeds show to learn any thing that comes 

 under their observation, had made his own fiddle, 

 and taught himself to play upon it. 



A short description of the modes of fishery by 

 which most of the fur posts in Rupert's Land are 

 supported may not be inappropriate in this place. 

 The nets, formed like those used in the herring 

 fishery, measure, before mounting, one hundred 

 and twenty yards in length, but are gathered in to 

 eighty yards by the introduction of the backing- 

 line along the upper edge. The depth of the net 

 varies with that of the waters in which it is to be 

 employed, from two to four yards. For the cap- 

 ture of white-fish, of the ordinary size of three or 

 four pounds, the mesh is five and a half inches long, 

 and where these fish are very large it is increased 

 to six. For taking the Bear Lake herring, and 

 the small coregoni of other localities, the meshes 

 vary from two inches to two and three quarters. 

 In open waters the nets are shot, as in the herring 

 fishery ; the upper margin being buoyed with cedar 

 or fir floats, and the lower one depressed by stones. 



