296 LABRADOR 



wegian coast in January, 'host following host in a north- 

 easterly direction. Sometimes they are delayed by the 

 coldness of the season, and may then not run in until March. 

 Professor Hind has prepared the preceding table of arrival 

 and departure in average years at different latitudes on the 

 Labrador. It may be noted that the cod of the western 

 Atlantic coast ranges from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of 

 Boothnia in lat. 75 north. 



The smaller fish leave the shore first; the larger ones re- 

 main on the near banks till well into November, when they 

 withdraw into deeper water. Buffon said they retired to 

 the polar seas, but it seems impossible that they go very 

 far. Some Labrador cod are known to winter on the Grand 

 Banks, as some with Frenchmen's banking hooks sticking 

 in their mouths have been captured by the Labrador crews. 



As cod began to show real or apparent failure on the New- 

 foundland coast, and then on the Grand Banks, the great 

 fleet of fishing vessels began to turn its bows northward. 

 First, a few venturesome fishermen crossed the Strait of 

 Belle Isle without having wetted a line or net, and risked 

 their summer's catch off the Labrador coast. These early 

 pioneers were richly rewarded, and others soon followed 

 in their wake. As it became imperative for more and more 

 families to seek a living from Labrador, many, who had no 

 means of obtaining schooners of their own, managed to 

 find their way north as " freighters," with their more 

 fortunate brethren. Arrived on the Labrador, a family 

 of " freighters" builds a rude summer "tilt" at some spot 

 suggested by their previous experience, and then fish from 

 the land in small boats, returning in the same way in the 

 autumn. Thus commenced the great exodus of men, 



