322 LABRADOR 



To cure and dry a single quintal of fish uses salt and time, 

 and costs money, but it often pays to cure the catch when 

 it is not too large, for the price per quintal then rises so 

 much that the net profit is actually greater. Five and one- 

 quarter barrels of Cadiz salt or six and one-half barrels of 

 Liverpool salt (29.7 gallons to barrel) will cure 2205 pounds 

 of cod, that is, 1435-1462 pounds of salt to 2205 pounds 

 of dry cured fish. Salt comes to from twenty-five to thirty 

 cents per quintal of dried fish. 



The markets are subject to very rapid fluctuations. A 

 cargo scheduled for a certain port may arrive just too late, 

 find the port glutted with other arrivals, and have to proceed 

 farther, which means fresh port dues and expenses. There 

 is thus a veritable race both in loading and in making the 

 transatlantic journey. This has led to the employment 

 of steamers to carry the fish; then the merchant finds 

 the new difficulty that steamers large enough to pay ex- 

 penses are likely to flood any local market to which they 

 are consigned. 



Again, the consignee has at times thrown the cargo back 

 on the merchant's hands, the condition of the fish not equal- 

 ling that which he desires and to which he feels entitled. 

 Sometimes the whole cargo will be actually returned to 

 Newfoundland. This, however, is so ruinous to the mer- 

 chant that he generally arranges for an arbitration to be 

 held, and lower prices may be agreed upon. The result is 

 some incentive to protest against accepting the agreed 

 price. In addition, there is always the element of risk, 

 unavoidable by the merchant, that the quality of the fish 

 may have deteriorated on the passage. Very large losses 

 have been made in this way by individuals, who are in turn 



