3402 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



tide all tbe way down the coast to Gaspe\ So that a vessel can sail at 

 the full or change of the moon up the center of this deep water passage 

 and reach Point Des Monts at precisely 12 o'clock, and she may turn 

 around then and go with the eddy flood and down to Gaspe by the same 

 flood tide, which reaches Gaspe at 1.30 p. in. 



Q. Now, the effect of that tide is to throw every floating object close 

 inshore ? A. Yes. 



Q. And in some way it has the effect of washing the food of fishes 

 inshore ? A. Yes. 



Q. Is the peculiar shape of Prince Edward Island due to that? A. 

 Yes ; that is the geological cause of the peculiar bend in the island. It 

 is the result of tbe ages of action of the tide upon the soft sand-stone 

 rock, which it has cut and carried out to sea. 



Q. Now, the other portion of the tidal wave which flows over into 

 this part of the gulf is split into two parts by the island of Anicosti ? 

 A. One portion runs inshore with great velocity, but is only felt three 

 leagues outside. There is no sign of a tide three leagues outside, accord- 

 ing to Admiral Eayfield, owing to the circumstances of the great tidal 

 wave coming up here. The result is that this tidal wave being retarded 

 by friction along the coast, it arrives at Point Des Monts at a period 

 entered upon the map as two hours and ten minutes, meeting the ebb 

 tide coming down the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which fills up this space. 

 The consequence is that the food of fish and floating objects, generally, 

 are all thrown inshore around that portion of the estuary. Its influence 

 is especially marked with regard to the launce, of which we have heard 

 a good deal recently. 



Q. Have you been along that shore yourself? A. I have walked 

 along a considerable portion of that shore, from the Moisie River to 

 Seven Islands, along a magnificent beach, and have watched the mack- 

 erel wait, as it were, until the flood tide came in for the lance to come 

 out of the sand, just as the cod are known to watch on the coast of 

 Sweden until the flood tide drives the crabs out of the rocks and holes, 

 when they feed upon them. 



Q. Then, if I understand you, the effect of this tide is to drive the 

 food inshore and all other floating objects ? A. Yes. 



Q. Then, along the northern coast of tlie St. Lawrence, including the 

 coast of Labrador? A. I don't say anything about this portion of the 

 coast of Labrador. 



Q. Then, from the Seven Islands at all events ? A. From Miugan, 

 which lies considerably to the east of Point Des Monts, it is all driven 

 inshore. 



Q. What is the food of the mackerel ? A. It consists chiefly, first of 

 all, of launce and small crustaceans. 



Q. Well, there is a little fish spoken of by witnesses, called britt! 

 A. That is a popular name given to what is called the "eyebait," and 

 appears to be the young of the common herring. Although, some few 

 years ago, it was considered to be of a different species from that. 



Q. They say it is red in color ? A. I don't know of any britt being 

 red colored. Perhaps you speak of the so-called cayenne; that is a small 

 crustacean. It occurs sometimes, in fact frequently, iu such vast mul- 

 titudes as to give a distinct color to the sea. 



Q. They say the mackerel eat it ? A. Yes; certainly; their stomachs 

 are sometimes distended with it. 



Q. At all events they eat the launce fish and bait. What other food 

 of the mackerel is brought inshore ? A. A great many of the minute 

 marine animals called pteropods, similar to the crustaceans. 





