12 



FISHERIES OP THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



Never was so rich a mine of wealth opened by the most for- 

 tunate adventurer of Southern climes, as that afforded by 

 these fruitful ocean plains, and although untold millions 

 have been taken from what was once an apparently inexhaus- 

 tible store, portions of these seas still yield a rich return to 

 the judicious and industrious toilers of the deep. 



Until the sixteenth century, Iceland had been the scene 

 of the most extensive cod fisheries. There is a story that 



A HAUL OF CODFISH. 



Basque fishermen came to our Labrador waters as early as 

 1470, but what is certain is that from 1525 to about 1700 they 

 frequented the Straits of Belle Isle and the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence in considerable numbers; and in 1534, when 

 Jacques C artier was passing through these Straits, he met a 

 fishing vessel from La Rochelle looking for the harbour of 

 Brest 1 ; and in describing Islettes (Bradore Bay), he notes 

 that "there great fishing is done." 



i Relation Originals de Voyage de Jacques Cartier au Canada 

 en 1534. 



