334 LABRADOR 



their own will. No fishing tackle can be obtained on the 

 coast. Silver Doctors, Jock Scotts, Soldier Palmers, Dur- 

 ham Rangers, and Fairies are all good flies on the Labrador 

 rivers. 



Why salmon leap at a fly at all, is much debated. The 

 need for food does not alone seem to explain the habit, 

 which has persisted from the smolt days of their youth. 

 A much greater puzzle is, Why are salmon timid to-day, 

 voracious to-morrow? Why will every salmon refuse to 

 look at a fly at nine o'clock, but at nine fifteen o'clock every 

 salmon in the pool will leap at any fly one likes to try ? 



The salmon that return to the rivers in the winter lose 

 their bright colour. The males become dark in the back, 

 and have a dark red colour developed on the sides and belly. 

 The females are a dark, dusty gray, somewhat resembling 

 coalfish. Their flesh becomes white, and they are useless 

 for eating. Early in the fifteenth century, it was a capital 

 offence to kill salmon out of season. 



The Labrador salmon are said to be the best in the world 

 for eating. The cold waters seem to produce a specially 

 vigorous, well-fleshed fish. The salmon-fishery in Labra- 

 dor preceded the cod-fishery by many years. The former 

 was much the more valuable then. With salmon catch 

 and fur trade the resident white population grew up and 

 flourished ; with the destruction of the salmon those people 

 have fallen into poverty, and even into starvation. 



In the history of the Labrador settlers we may read the 

 pitiable story of the blotting out of these valuable fish. 

 The increasing quantity of twine used on the outside for 

 codfish offers no prospect that the salmon will assume 

 their former abundance. 



