The Economic Fishes of Hudson's Bay and Strait. 215 



principal parts of the world where there is a demand for these fish, 

 but that large salmon canneries will make their appearance on the 

 shores of our northern waters, reaping good profits to those who 

 invest capital and labour in the enterprise. 



Pretty much all I have said of the salmon may be said of the sea 

 trout which fill the streams of the north in certain seasons in 

 " countless legions." They are like the salmon, beautiful, fastidious, 

 sportive, and delicious for the table. Their number, if possible, is 

 even greater than that of the salmon in the north. They are nearly 

 as large as the salmon, being a little longer, but not quite so stout. 

 The Eskimos spear them and feed upon their sweet, luscious flesh in 

 the spring and early summer, and consider them, as well they may, 

 a great luxury. They brought numbers of them to the Neptune 

 during our stay in the Strait, and traded them for powder and shot, 

 and of course we were ready purchasers. 



In many places the Hudson's Bay Company are carrying on 

 extensive trout fisheries by means of simple traps, which they set 

 in the shallow streams when the tide rises some ten or twelve feet. 

 At ebb-tide they often find thousands of these excellent fish secured 

 in these nets. They are salted in casks or barrels, and shipped to 

 England. 



If a Canadian company were organized, with even a limited 

 capital, and equipped for cod, salmon, and trout fishing, with stations 

 at suitable places on Hudson Strait, these fish might be annually 

 exported to the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It would 

 require a much greater outlay of capital, as also more experience and 

 skill, to deal successfully with the oil-bearing animals ; but I have 

 no doubt the returns reaped would be correspondingly greater. In 

 either case it would require but the space of a few years to amass 

 an extensive fortune. The wealth is there in inexhaustible supply 

 awaiting skill, labour, and capital to develop it. Who will be first ? 

 There is a variety of smaller fish in those waters, but they are 

 not of so much importance, and I had no opportunity of learning 

 anything concerning them. 



