A LABRADOR SPRING 



Salmon were plentiful at the mouth of the 

 river, however, and it was always interesting 

 to watch the men take the splendid great fish 

 out of the nets, and pack them in snow to await 

 transportation by steamer to Quebec. The 

 nets were generally supported by upright poles 

 which extended out at right angles with the 

 shore to a distance of two or three hundred 

 yards. V-shaped trap nets were placed at 

 intervals at right angles to the main net on 

 the side from which the salmon came; the 

 opening to the trap was on the shore side, as a 

 bewildered fish always strikes out into deeper 

 water when he fears capture. In their struggle 

 to escape they are securely caught by the gills 

 in the meshes of the net. Cartwright in his 

 poetical epistle on Labrador says: 



"The Salmon now no more in Ocean play, 

 But up fresh Rivers take their silent way. 

 For them, with nicest art, we fix the net; 

 For them, the stream is carefully beset; 

 Few fish escape : We toil both night and day. 

 The Season's short, and Time flies swift away." 



He spread his nets across the whole river! 



Napoleon A. Comeau, the veteran naturalist 



and hunter of the north shore of the Gulf of St. 



222 



