28 FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



wicker baskets, long and wide, and large enough to hold five 

 or six eels. When the sea is low, they deposit them on the 

 sand in a suitable remote place, securing them in a manner 

 that the tide cannot carry them off. At both sides they heap 

 up stones, which extend like a chain or small wall on both 

 sides, in order that the fish, which always seeks the bottom, 

 in encountering this obstacle, may glide slowly towards the 

 aperture of the basket to which the stones lead. When the 

 sea has risen, it covers the baskets and after it has subsided 

 again, they are examined. Sometimes a hundred or two hun- 

 dred eels are found at one tide ; sometimes more, and occas- 

 ionally none at all, according to wind and weather. When 

 the sea is agitated, many are caught ; when it is calm, few 

 or none ; but then they have recourse to their harpoons. 



' ' The savages cure fish in the following mariner : they let 

 them drip a little, and then cut off the heads and tails ; they 

 open them at the back, and having emptied them, they make 

 incisions, to allow the smoke to penetrate them thoroughly; 

 the perches in their huts are all loaded with them. When 

 they are well buccaned, they bring them together, and make 

 them into packages, each containing about a hundred. ' ' 



Pere LeJeune, writing in 1634 1 says: "This harpoon 

 (for spearing eel) is an instrument consisting of a long 

 stick, of the thickness of three fingers, to the end of which 

 they fasten an iron spike, which they arm on each side with 

 a curved prong, both coming nearly together at the end of 

 the iron point. In striking an eel with this harpoon, they 

 drive the iron into it, and the two prongs, yielding to the 

 force of the thrust, let in the eel, after which they contract 

 again by themselves (having opened merely by the shock of 

 the stroke), and prevent the speared eel from escaping. This 

 fishing with the harpoon is ordinarily done only during the 

 night: two savages sit in a canoe, one behind who steers 

 and paddles, and the other ahead, seeking by the light of a 



i Relation de ce qui s'est passe en la Nouvelle France sur la 

 grand Fleuve de St. Lavrens en Vannee 1634. Relations des Je~ 

 suites, etc. Vol. I. 



