FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 91 



destructive method of catching cod. This was nothing less 

 than a species of jigging, known as "la peche avec la faux/' 

 against which a vigorous protest was made to the Secretary 

 of State for the Colonies in 1718 by the Sieur de Brouague, 

 commandant of the coast. He failed to describe what was 

 meant by "la peche avec la faux/' and as the term is not now 

 employed either by fishermen or by those familiar with their 

 craft, except to describe something like legitimate trolling, 

 it becomes necessary to search the literature of France as 

 nearly contemporaneously as possible with the time of Brou- 

 ague for an account of the destructive method of fishing to 

 which he so strongly objected. In the Encyclopedic on 

 Dictionnaire Raisonne des sciences des arts et des metiers, 

 edited by Messrs. Diderot and D'Alembert, 1 this fishing 

 is thus described: "Faux, (Peche) is an instrument com- 

 posed of three or four hooks, joined by their stems, and be- 

 tween which is a small salmon made of bright metal, shaped 

 like a herring. When the fisherman finds himself in a locality 

 where the codfish are abundant, and when he finds that they 

 refuse bait, he employs the faux. The fish, deceived, take 

 the bright and shining mass of metal for a herring and dart 

 after it or gather around. The fisherman, meanwhile, con- 

 tinually jerking his line, jigs the fish wherever the hooks 

 chance to strike into them. The destructiveness of this fish- 

 ing is self evident, for it is quite apparent that for every fish 

 taken in this manner, a great number are wounded. Now as 

 soon as a fish is wounded and bleeding, all the others in the 

 vicinity chase after him, disappearing with him. For these 

 reasons, the practice, and all similar ones, should be pro- 

 hibited." 



The Sieur de Brouague employed almost the identical 

 language of the encyclopedia in speaking of the evil effects of 

 this fishing, namely: "On faisoit la peche de la morue avec 

 la faux, ce qui fasoit l)eaucoup de tort, parceque pour en 

 prendre une on en blessoit plusiers." (They fish for cod with 



Troisieme edition, Geneve, M.DCC.LXXVIII. Tome 13, p. 913. 



