BAIE DES CHALEURS.* 



^?[^HE great Bay Chalenr or "Bay of Heats"' divides 

 ''wftp the Canadian district of Gaspe from the northern 

 counties of New Brunswick. It extends for more 

 than sixty miles from its entrance to the mouth of 

 the Eiyer Eestigouche. At that point it is three 

 miles wide, and receives the waters of not less than sixty 

 rivers and streams ! Nearly all of these abound in sea-trout, 

 brook-trout or salmon, or all three together. From the early 

 period of its discovery and settlement, when, in 1578, no less 

 than 330 fishing vessels found remunerative fares within its 

 teeming waters, until the present day, the Bay Chaleur has 

 been a resort for fishermen. It was always noted for the 

 large size of its salmon ; and only as recently as thirty years 

 ago, they averaged eleven to the baiTcl of two hundred pounds. 

 Even now an occasional fish is caught weighing as much as 

 forty pounds. Although both quantity and size of fish had 

 greatly diminished previously to 1868 (at which time the 

 New Dominion Fishery Inspection was established), the ex- 

 port continued large in fresh fish packed in ice and in cans, 

 and smoked. Since the rivers have been protected, the stock 

 of fish has rapidly increased, and the principal streams are 

 regaining their old prestige, 



* See Harper's Magazine, Vol. XXXVL, page 424. 



