326 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



" salmo salar," now, alas! diminishing yearly, and why? Be- 

 cause we saw mill dams crossing the rivers, and without fish- 

 ways or openings, whilst nets set across the stream entirely stopped 

 the fish proceeding to the spawning beds ; and then the spear 

 and the torch completed the work of destruction, and at a time 

 too when the fish were quite unfit for food. 



The pine of New Brunswick was a mine of wealth for some 

 years ; and now the great coal field of the eastern portions of this 

 fine province, and the fishing of the coast and of the rivers, duly 

 preserved and judiciously worked, will, with the assistance of 

 railroads for ready transport of fresh or ice-packed fish, yield 

 great profit to enterprising colonists. Mr. Perley's reports may 

 be consulted with advantage on the herring, cod, mackerel, whale, 

 seal, and shell-fish of the province. 



Some of the settlers who lite by fishing in New Brunswick 

 have only one large room in their houses, the man and wife sleep 

 at night in a bed in a corner, whilst the children, huddled up 

 like mice, " camp " round the stove in the centre as they best 

 may. We have slept on the floor and in the barn of settlers' houses, 

 and found the latter very agreeable, particularly if there was a 

 loft with clean straw. 



With regard to preserving salmon after being caught, perhaps, 

 if they were treated by the settlers as the Dutch and Scotch do 

 their herrings, it might be advantageous ; that is, immediately the 

 fish are caught, they are bled, by cutting off the head, to preserve 

 the flavour, gutted, cleaned, salted, and barrelled without delay. 

 Like carting off the spawning beds in some home rivers for gravel 

 walks, so was the shameful destruction of herring spawn cast up 

 by the sea on the beach of New Brunswick; it was carted off 

 sometimes to manure the land. 



The best mode to protect rivers from being poached either at 

 home or in the colonies, is by having active men appointed by 

 government at moderate salaries, 50 or 100, whose duty it 



