FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 89 



the Esquimaux. On one occasion the latter stole a number 

 of French boats, and according to Brouague, a gang of 40 

 to 50 of them endeavoured to surprise some of his men and 

 would have cut their throats if they could have succeeded. 



On the other hand an officer who went from Blanc 

 Sablon to St. Mandez for some salt which had been left 

 there was received most affectionately by the Esquimaux, 

 who were assembled there with more than a hundred canoes 

 and fourteen or fifteen boats, and who even assisted the 

 sailors to load their boat. 



Many of the vessels engaged in fishing in the Lower St. 

 Lawrence in the early part of the eighteenth century were 

 owned in Quebec, which was more interested in the cod 

 fishing two hundred years ago than it is to-day. In the 

 spring of 1734 no less than thirteen fishing boats left Que- 

 bec for the Lower St. Lawrence. 



For forty-one years, almost without intermission, 

 Brouague wrote an annual letter to the Council of the 

 Marine, detailing the events which took place on the Labra- 

 dor. They consist principally of accounts of the depreda- 

 tions of the Esquimaux and of his efforts to warn and protect 

 the fishermen. It soon became a practice to make Bay 

 Phelypeaux the headquarters for the coast, and at the end 

 of each season the fishermen brought their boats and gear 

 for him to take care of, knowing that anything left un- 

 guarded would be stolen or destroyed. On several occas- 

 ions, small sealing posts, where three or four men only 

 were employed, were attacked and the fishermen slain. 

 Reprisals were naturally of frequent occurrence, and the 

 Esquimaux were shot with little compunction by the enraged 

 fishermen. 



Brouague 's post was by no means a sinecure. One of 

 his duties was the settlement of disputes among the fisher- 

 men themselves. As in our own day, the favorite "berths," 

 i.e., fishing stations, were much sought after, and excited 

 great competition, fair and otherwise. The custom seemed 

 to be for each vessel arriving on the coast to go or send 



