298 SALMON FISHIXG IX CANADA. 



effective in those parts of the province where there are no settled 

 inhabitants, no magistrates, and no tribunals before which those 

 who infringe the law can be cited; and this is the case of all the 

 best rivers in Lower Canada. 



I cannot close these observations without endeavouring to im- 

 press on all who hear me the necessity for prompt action in this 

 matter ; for there can be no doubt upon the mind of any man 

 who is acquainted with the localities, that if the King's Posts 

 should be abandoned by the Hudson's Bay Company, before some 

 well devised system be adopted for carrying on the work which 

 they have hitherto effected, two melancholy results will be the 

 inevitable consequences, viz. the salmon rivers will be taken 

 possession of by hordes of lawless men, who will in no way con- 

 tribute to the revenue of the country, but will quickly and 

 recklessly exterminate the fish, and then desert our shores, leaving 

 behind them no trace of their temporary occupation except the 

 destruction they have wrought ; and more terrible still a whole 

 tribe of Indians (the Montagnards) will be reduced to a state of 

 positive starvation, for upon the Hudson's Bay Company they 

 have hitherto been, and are now, dependent for their ammunition, 

 guns, and other means by which they obtain their food and 

 clothing. 



