32 FISHERIES OP THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



Writing in 1672, Nicolas Denys says: "Those who follow 

 the fishing are mostly Normans from Honfleur, Dieppe and 

 other small harbors of that country, some from Bologne and 

 Calais, Brittany, Olonne and all the country of Aulnais. The 

 Basques," he adds, "are the most skillful; after them the 

 Rochelle men and those from the neighboring islands, then the 

 Bourdelois and Bretons/' 



DR. CLARKE'S DESCRIPTION. 



"Each year, to quote from Dr. John M. Clarke, "these 

 fishing crews made their way across the Atlantic, anchored 

 in the bays and coves, made their catch, cured it ashore and 

 returned to France with their cargo. Sometimes the trip 

 across was made even twice a year, once just after the early 

 summer fishing, and again after the autumn return of the 

 fish, when all sailed back to be in time for the Lenten market. 

 Even during these years, while Denys watched and shared iri 

 the fishing on the coast, from 1633 to 1688, and while it was 

 carried on from across the sea, the coast was a scene of great 

 activity from June to December and brought some hundreds 

 of vessels from the other side. The picture which Denys has 

 given of the whole procedure of the fishing business in chap- 

 ter after chapter of his Natural History of 1672 presents the 

 minutest detail and particulars of these operations as then 

 carried out, from the embarkation on the French coast till 

 anchor was again dropped in the home ports. With the be- 

 ginning of permanent settlement by the fishing folk the 

 methods of the business did not materially alter, as every- 

 thing still depended on the shipmasters who came from 

 France. In the 1700's the settlements were gradually at- 

 tained, bringing with them the storing of the fish ashore till 

 convenient transportation could be had and Denys' dream 

 of a successful pesche sedentaire was realized. We have very 

 slender records of this business on the coast till the time of 

 the coming of the organizer and syndicator of the Gaspe fish- 



