CHAPTER XXV. 



The Economic Fishes of Hudson's Bay and Strait. 



the wonders of the common codfish — the beauty, tact and 

 skill of the salmon — delicious trout — how fortunes may 

 be made in the hudson's bay fisheries. 



LREADY the reader has obtained some idea of the immense 

 wealth of the Hudson's Bay region in oil-bearing animals, 



)\jg such as the whale, the walrus, the porpoise, the narwhal, the 

 ""N^ seal, etc.; and I must now direct attention to the economic 

 fishes of those waters. The cod abounds in countless legions in 

 many portions of the Strait, and in all the coves and inlets which 

 everywhere characterize the shores of Ungava Bay. Everybody has 

 heard of the codfish, but few are aware of the excellent sport in 

 catching them. During our voyages on the Hudson's Bay Expedition 

 we had many opportunities of enjoying this, and I availed myself 

 of them on more than one occasion. 



The cod is one of the most useful fishes that inhabits any water, 

 and at certain seasons of the year is captured in quantities so vast 

 as to fill one with astonishment. The shores of Newfoundland and 

 of the entire Labrador coast are, in the spring and early summer, 

 literally alive with these fish, except in seasons, which rarely occur, 

 when they appear in scattering numbers, and the cod-fishery becomes 

 a failure, and thousands go hungry in consequence. The cod-fishery, 

 considered as a whole, is an immense industry. On the shores of 

 Newfoundland and Labrador there are thousands of vessels employed, 

 and some seasons over fifty thousand souls engaged in fishing for 

 and curing the cod. 



They are always caught by the hook and line. The lines are of 

 two descriptions. One is a long line to which are attached a great 



