THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 297 



women, and children that every year starts for Labrador 

 from Newfoundland as soon as the ice of winter breaks up 

 and the journey becomes possible. At length these so- 

 called summer settlers pushed as far north as Cape Harri- 

 gan, and the floaters as far as Cape Chidley. Of late years, 

 however, an ebb tide has set in, and more fish is taken in 

 the Straits and along the southern shore than in the north, 

 and many of the northern summer settlements have been 

 abandoned. 



On first consideration the Labrador voyage does not 

 sound particularly enterprising. But there are features 

 about it which are not immediately apparent. The 

 entire living of these pioneers depends on the fishery, for 

 the fur catching in Newfoundland is almost a negligible 

 quantity as far as most of the men are concerned. Only 

 of late years has enough work at the Sydney (Nova Scotia) 

 mines or steel works, or at the iron mines on Bell Island, 

 Newfoundland, been available, in case a family is left with 

 nothing for the winter. Even that is not open to all. 

 Labradormen have only one string to their bows, so that 

 the daily increasing anxiety from not finding fish as the 

 summer wears away tells heavily on the skipper. I re- 

 member one poor fellow tying an anchor round his neck 

 and jumping over the side of the schooner in the night. 

 He came up with the cable in the morning. 



The mainstay of many of these men to-day, especially 

 the southern men, is the little plot of land at home, which 

 is attended by the aged or by those incapacitated and able 

 to be spared from the long Labrador voyage. On this 

 home patch they grow enough potatoes, cabbages, and 

 turnips to "put them through the winter," if only a hand- 



