FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 29 



bark torch, attached to the prow of the craft, his prey with 

 the eyes, while gently moving along the bank of this great 

 river. Perceiving an eel, he darts his harpoon without losing 

 hold of it, pierces the eel as stated, and then throws it into 

 his canae. Some will catch three hundred, and many more, 

 in a single night, but very few at other times." 



Charlevoix, describing the Canadian Indians of his time 

 and their fishing says : x " These people have a wonderful skill 

 in striking in the Water, especially in the Torrents. They fish 

 also with the Sein, and they have an odd Ceremony before 

 they use this Net. They marry it to two young Maids, and 

 during the Wedding Feast they place it between the two 

 Brides. They exhort it very seriously to take a great many 

 Fish, and they think to engage it to do so by making great 

 Presents to its pretended Fathers-in-Law. . . The Stur- 

 geon here is a Sea and a fresh Water Fish; for they take 

 it upon the Coasts of Canada, and in the great Lakes which 

 cross the River St. Lawrence. . . . The Savages take 

 them in the Lakes in this Manner : Two Men are at the two 

 ends of a Canoe ; he behind steers, and the other stands up, 

 holding a Dart in one Hand, to which a long Cord is fastened, 

 the other end is tied to one of the Bars of the Canoe. As 

 soon as he sees the Sturgeon in his Reach, he throws his Dart, 

 and endeavors to strike where there are no Scales; if the 

 Fish is wounded it flies, and draws the Canoe along pretty 

 swiftly, but after having swam about 150 Paces it dies, they 

 then draw up the Cord and take it. ' ' 



A LARGE CATCH OF COD. 



The Journal des Jesuit es furnishes several interesting items 

 of information concerning the fisheries of New France in 

 the middle of the seventeenth century, including a good fish 

 story told the Jesuits by Sieur Lepine, on his arrival in Que- 

 bec from the Lower St. Lawrence on the 31st October, 1656. 



i Letters to the Duchess of Lesdiguieres, etc.; London edition 

 of 1763. 



