162 ALL AFLOAT 



officially, a man-of-war, under its own captain 

 from the Royal Navy. Finally, civil self- 

 government followed in the usual way. 



All through there was a constantly growing 

 and apparently inextricable entanglement of 

 international complications, which were only 

 settled by The Hague agreement in the present 

 century. And only within almost as recent 

 times has what may be called the natural 

 history of Canadian fisheries begun to follow 

 the inevitable trend of evolution which gradu- 

 ally changes the civilized fisherman from a 

 hunter into a farmer. As man increases in 

 number, and his means of hunting down game 

 increase still faster, a time inevitably comes 

 when he disturbs the balance of nature to such 

 an extent that he must either exterminate his 

 prey or begin to ' farm ' it, that is, begin to 

 breed and protect as well as kill it. Fisheries 

 are no exception to this rule ; and what with 

 close seasons, prohibitions, hatcheries, and 

 other means of keeping up the supply of fish, 

 the fishing population is beginning, though 

 only to a very small extent as yet, to make 

 the change. Some day we shall talk of our 

 pedigree cod, but the 'men of this generation 

 will not live to see it. 



The change is beneficial for the mere mouths 



