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an opposite course to that adopted by them on their 

 arrival. On their final departure from the coast, they go 

 out of the gulf into the main ocean, and probably repair to 

 Hudson's Bay and the Arctic seas. 



The importance of the seal fisheries was soon perceived 

 by the first mariners who visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 for shortly after Canada was discovered, seal-fishing was 

 extensively prosecuted by the settlers, and from those days 

 it has been recognised as one of the most important 

 branches of industry pursued in those latitudes. 



The mode of capturing the seal in Canadian waters is 

 by netting them. The nets used are made of hempen cord, 

 which is very strong, although not more than the twelfth 

 part of an inch thick. The meshes are eight inches square. 

 Some of these nets are more than one hundred fathoms 

 long by ten fathoms wide, and several nets are put together, 

 as advantageously as possible, for the purpose of taking the 

 seals. Some of these nets are of great value, costing, for 

 the net alone, 1,500, exclusive of the anchors and gear, by 

 which they are kept in position after they are set. 



The usual time for the seals to pass near the shore on 

 their migratory voyage being known, the nets are set a few 

 days before ; one of the fishermen is posted as a sentry on 

 a rock, a little in advance of the fishery, to give notice of 

 the approach of the herds of seals, and the moment they 

 are within the fishery a signal is given, and the fishermen 

 hasten to raise, by means of capstans, a net sunk by leaden 

 weights to the bottom of the water at the entrance of 

 the fishery. With this net they close the entrance through 

 which the seals made their ingress, and as soon as this 

 operation is completed, and the seals are fairly imprisoned, 

 the fishermen jump into their boats and enter the fishery, 

 shouting and beating the water with their paddles, and 



