THE FISHERIES. 13 



trade. They have a country filled with a heavy 

 growth of the most valuable timber for the build- 

 ing of vessels, and they derive no inconsiderable 

 advantages from their proximity to the fishing 

 grounds. They can, and frequently do, in some 

 districts, carry on their fisheries in open boats 

 of cheap construction, within a few miles from 

 shore. The bounty allowed by our government 

 to encourage the trade, being, in part, intended 

 as a drawback for duties paid on imported salt, 

 can scarcely be an adequate cause for the supe- 

 rior success of our fisheries over those of the 

 British, even on their own shores. The colonial 

 fishermen derive a similar encouragement from 

 the importation (free of duty) of the salt which 

 they consume. The form in which they receive 

 encouragement is different, but its effect is de- 

 signed to be the same. The secret of the suc- 

 cess of our fishermen lies in their greater activity 

 and perseverance. A late English traveller in 

 Nova Scotia, was surprised to find the bays swarm- 

 ing with Marblehead boats, before the Nova Sco- 

 tians had moved in the business. Burke acknowl- 

 edged the superiority of the hardy fishermen of 

 New England, more than half a century since, a 

 superiority which they have ever since maintained, 

 and will continue to maintain unless our govern- 

 ment should withdraw the protection and reward 



