FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 25 



SAGARD 'S FISH STORIES. 



The Recollet Frere Gabriel Sagard Theodat, in his His 

 toire du Canada, published in Paris, in 1636, describes quite 

 fully the inland fisheries of the Gulf. Speaking of Gaspe Bay 

 he declares that the sailors took there, lobsters, trout, mack- 

 erel, cod and other fish. 



Of the whales which played around the ship in such 

 numbers, he minutely describes their anatomy and habits, 

 remarking especially upon the smallness of their gullets, 

 which only enabled them to swallow one mackerel at a time, 

 and which, he says, "makes so much more wonderful the 

 double miracle wrought for Jonah, when the gullet of the 

 whale was first enlarged to enable the prophet to find refuge 

 inside the whale, and was once more enlarged to enable Jonah 

 to emerge therefrom. ' ' 1 



Commenting upon the enormous wealth of fish in the 

 waters of the New World, Sagard remarks : ' ' God, who had 

 peopled the earth with different kinds of animals, as well for 

 the service of man as for the adornment and embellishment 

 of the universe, has also peopled the rivers and the sea with 

 as great or even a greater diversity of fish, all of whom exist 

 in their own species and in almost infinite numbers, notwith- 

 standing that man is daily drawing from them a portion of 

 his nourishment, and that gluttonous fishes are constantly 

 warring with and living upon smaller or weaker species in the 

 depths of the ocean, devouring them in enormous numbers. 

 These, ' ' he says, ' ' are among the marvels of God. ' ' 2 



ture de cinq a six pieds. Ce faict, Us laissent couller le rets Ira 

 fonds jle Veau. qui va bas, par le moyen de certaines pettites pierrcs 

 qu'ils attachent au bout, & estans au fonds de Veau, Us le retirent 

 a force de bras par ces deux bouts, & ainsi amenent le poisson qui 

 se trouue prins dedans. Voila la fac.on en bref comme Us en vsent 

 pour pesche en hyuer." 



1 Histoire du Canada et Voyages que les Freres Mineurs Re- 

 collets y ont faits pour la conversion des infideles, etc., etc. Fait 

 et compose par le F. Gabriel Sagard Theodat, Mineur Recollet fie 

 la Prouince de Paris, Paris, M. DC XXXT1 Tome I., pp. 131-132. 



2 Idem Tome III., p. 760. 



