202 CHARACTEKISTICS OF THE PEOPLE. 



THE F1SHEKME>\ 



111 tlie lieiglit of tliL' lishiiig season, if fisli ave almndant tlie 

 labours of the iislieiineu are severe and incessant ; but during 

 the long winter, the bulk of them are in a state of enforced idle- 

 ness. In the fall of (lie year, after the fish are dispo-ed of, there 

 are boats, nets, etc., to repair, stages and tlakes to look after, and 

 fuel to lie cut in tlie woods and hauled over the snow. Much of 

 the work of handling and drying tish is done by women and girls, 

 whose work is ol'teii veiy heavy. If the tishery has proved suc- 

 cessful, the fisherman has a snug Ijalance coming to him, after 

 paying for his summer supplies and is enabled tu lay in a stock 

 ■of provisions for the winter. Should the fisheries prove a failure, 

 the poor fisherman aftei' all his toil has perhaps only a lew quin- 

 tals of fish to haufl over in payment of his advances. He is then 

 dependent on the lil)erality of the merchant oi' planter for a sup- 

 l^ly of the necessaries of life to carry him through the winter. 

 Should he have done his best, and acted honestly, such supplies 

 are rarely refused. The merchant or sui)})lier has to take the 

 risks of the voyage as well as the fisherman, and in Viad seasons 

 his losses are often very heavy. Shouhl a second or third Imd 

 .season follow on the back of the first, the unfortunate fisherman 

 too often becomes hopelessly involved in debt. The merchant 

 finds himself at the end of the year with a long list of bad or 

 very doulitful delits in his ledger, and sutt'ers (juite as much as 

 the fisherman. It is easy to see that the business of supijlying 

 for the fisheries is far from being a bonanza. One liad season 

 may sweep away the gains of several good ones. The more the 

 credit system is curtailed the better for both parties. The mer- 

 chants would be ghul to abolish credit and jiay the fishermen in 

 cash for their fish when taken ; but the practice is deeply en- 

 grained, during by-gone generations, in the habits and ideas of 

 the peoi)le, and the bulk of them are too jioor to dispense with 

 advances. The more distant fisheries, such as on Labrador and the 

 Banks, could not at present be carried on without large outlay of 

 ca})ital. To \vithdraw advances suddenly wouhl be to entail 

 .starvation on thousands. The jireseut class of merchants and 



