332 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



in cash. Necessity, therefore, is simply an excuse, equally de- 

 ceptive and unfounded. It is the habitual indolence of most of 

 these Indians which lies at the root of the matter. It ties them 

 down to frequented spots where inducements held out by cunning 

 traders (whether on land or afloat) are irresistible. 



Is there, then, sufficient reason why their inveterate habits 

 should be humoured at the cost of extirpating the supply of 

 salmon ? 



In that noble stream the Restigouche, great quantities of salmon 

 used to be barrelled and exported, till poaching with net and 

 spear on the spawning beds in the upper river began to prevail, so 

 wantonly destructive are both whites and Indians if not watched. 

 One mode of taking the salmon here, was by " drifting ; " that is, 

 with a net between two canoes allowed to drift down the stream. 



In dry seasons it used to be terrible to see the salmon collected 

 in pools, and unable to escape, swimming about maimed and 

 bloody from spears and pitchfork wounds. " Black," or fish out 

 of season, and fish in season were equally unspared by the reckless 

 and lawless poachers. 



Lately some rivers in Ireland have been watched and cared 

 for from which the salmon had nearly disappeared, and the 

 increase is wonderful and most encouraging. 



We had occasion to be about the Bay of Fundy (remarkable 

 for its rushing tides, sixty feet high), whilst employed in Nova 

 Scotia and New Brunswick, and we looked with awe and admi- 

 ration on the mighty Atlantic wave breaking against the southern 

 shores of New Brunswick, and rushing up the bay, and scooping 

 out its bed, and breaking against the primitive rocks which 

 bounded it. 



I ate no salmon about the Bay of Fundy, but cod, pollack, 

 hake, and herring are caught in abundance there. Ascending the 

 St. John's Eiver, I ate of its salmon, and of that of its tributaries. 

 Here also it was painful to see fine rivers ruined by a dam 



