72 " A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE." 



to their homes their catch when their boat is loaded, and 

 returning again to any place where they may find the 

 best fishing. They prosecute their laborious avocations 

 until the month of July, when, after leaving the fish to 

 be dried and salted by their wives and families, they 

 make all sail for the Labrador coast to join in the herring- 

 fishery. Whether a " life on the ocean wave" is quite so 

 joyful and pleasurable as the poets represent, may well be 

 doubted ; but it is assuredly the life to which these hardy 

 and adventurous fishers devote themselves. It is their 

 custom, we may add, to dispose of the day's catch with 

 undeviating regularity, all hands setting to work to split 

 and salt the fish, and stow them away in the hold. " Car- 

 pe diem " is a motto for which they have a great admira- 

 tion. Cod-fish always " cure" most satisfactorily when 

 split and salted as soon as possible after being caught. 

 Every hour's delay injures their quality. 



The fish are generally allowed to remain in salt for 

 fully ten days, then washed, and afterwards dried on the 

 beach or on hurdles, small boughs, or sticks. Fish dried 

 on hurdles, or boughs, are always the best, the wind 

 passing freely over and under them, and drying them 

 thoroughly. The wind, it should be observed, is more 

 effectual than the sun as a " desiccating agent ; " and, 

 indeed, in days when the wind is not blowing, the hot 

 sun injures the fish burning it up, and destroying its 

 succulent properties. The fish-curing process is much 

 influenced, therefore, by the weather. With warm, 

 westerly winds it may be finished in a week; often it 

 takes much longer. 



We have already spoken of the method of extracting 

 the oil, which adds so considerably to the value of the 



