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fish, and the proportion of this Jamaica tish is much greater luaiTiC 

 would have been had the fish been dried and cured shortly after 

 having been taken, as is the case with the Coast and Bay Fishery ;• 

 m addition to which, these vessels employed in the Bank Fishery 

 are unavoidably obliged to prosecute this business with a great 

 comparative expense, as to the wear and tear of their vessels, and 

 loss of time, and with an increased degree of hazard, both as to 

 safety and success. 



" The Coast and Labrador Fisheries are prosecuted in vessels of 

 from 40 to 120 tons burthen, carrying a number of men, according 

 to their respective sizes, in about the same proportion as the ves- 

 sels on the Bank Fishery. They commence their voyages in May, 

 and get on the fishing ground about the 1st of June, before which 

 time bait cannot be obtained. This bait is furnished by a small 

 species of fish called caplingy which strike in shore at that time, 

 and are followed by immense shoals of cod fish, which feed upon 

 them. Each vessel selects its own fishing ground, along the coasts 

 of the Bay of Chaleurs, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Straits oi 

 Bellisle, the Coast of Labrador, even as far as Cumberland Island > 

 and the entrance of Hudson's Bay, thus improving a fishing ground 

 reaching in extent from the 45th to the 68th degree of north latitude. 



" In choosing their situation, the fishermen generally seek some 

 sheltered and safe harbour, or cove, where they anchor in aboul; 

 six or seven fatlioms water, unbend their sails, stow them below, and 

 literally making themselves at home, dismantle and convert their ves- 

 sels into habitations at least a& durable as those of the ancient Scy- 

 thians. The}' then cast a net over the stern of the vessel, in which 

 a sufficient number of capling are soon caught to supply them with 

 bait from day to day. Each vessel is furnished with four or five 

 light boats, according to their size and number ot men, each boat 

 requiring two men. They leave the vessel early in the morning, 

 and seek the best or sufficiently good spot for fishing, which is fre- 

 quently found within a few rods of their vessels, and very rarely 

 more than one or two miles distant from them, where they haul the 

 fish as fast as they can pull their lines, and sometimes it is said thai 

 the fish have been so abundant, as to be gaft or scooped into the 

 boats, without even a hook or line ; and the fishermen also say thai 

 the cod fish have been known to pursue the capling in such quan- 

 tities, and with such voracity, as to run in large numbers quite out 

 of w^ater on to the shores. The boats return to the vessels about 

 nine o'clock in the morning, at breakfast, put their fish on board, 

 salt and spHtthem ; and after having fished several days, by which 

 time the salt ha& been sufficiently struck in the fish first caught, they 

 carry them on shore and spread and dry them on the rocks or tem- 

 porary flakes. This routine is followed every day, with the addi- 

 tion of attending to such as have been spread, and carrying on board 

 and stowing away those that have become sufficiently cured, until 

 the vessel is filled with dried fish, fit for an immediate market, 

 %yhich is generally the case by the middle or last of August, atxd 



