THE HERRING AND OTHER FISH 345 



ago, of men and women supposed to be bringing evil luck 

 in the fishery. Laws have existed in England forbidding 

 the taking of herring between sunrise and sunset, under the 

 idea that the nets turned the fish. An Irish law forbade 

 nets to be out between sundown on Saturday and sunrise 

 on Monday. Probably the best laws, however, are no laws 

 at all, until more definite knowledge is possessed as to the 

 real causes of the movement of the herring. 



A great deal of the value of the cured article depends 

 upon the methods of cure, and much skill is needed to be 

 really successful. In Europe the fish is pickled round, 

 not being split at all ; in America they are split and cured ; 

 in Holland the belly is clipped off with scissors. The va- 

 riety of barrel is also an important point. The wood once 

 used with us was hard, clear spruce. But the Labrador 

 barrel industry has died with the departure of the herring. 

 For more reasons than one many have been left sorrowing 

 for a friend of whom we are all fond in every way and whose 

 loss we deeply deplore. 



Mackerel are not taken in Labrador, except occasionally 

 on the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The range of this 

 fish is from Belle Isle Strait to Cape Hatteras. In general 

 the lack of variety of round fish on the Labrador is com- 

 pensated only by the abundance and quality of the cod and 

 salmon. 



None of the marketable flatfish of Europe and America 

 frequents our waters. Absent is the succulent sole, the 

 delectable plaice, the toothsome turbot and brill. The 

 witch sole, deep-water denizen though he is, pays us no 

 visits. Of all these prime fish, only a stray halibut wander- 

 ing in from the enormous schools that frequent the great 



