1158 MISCELLANEOUS. 



lete as that of the King of England to the title of King of France. 

 Still, in the definitive treaty concluded at Paris, she formally 

 renounced "all pretentions which she has heretofore formed, or 

 might form, to Nova Scotia or Acadia, in all its parts, and guaranties 

 the whole of it, and with all its dependencies," and ceded and guar- 

 antied to England, "in full right, Canada, with all its dependencies, 

 as well as the island of Cape Breton, and all other islands and coasts 

 in the gulf and river of St. Lawrence; and, in general, everything 

 that depends on the said countries, lands, islands, and coasts, with 

 the sovereignty, property, possession, and all rights acquired by 

 treaty or otherwise." With this treaty the history of the Spanish 

 fishery in America terminates.* 



COD-FISHERY OF PORTUGAL. 



An account of this fishery may be embraced in a single paragraph. 

 If materials exist by which to ascertain its progress and final extent, I 

 have not been able to find them. 



Portuguese vessels were at Newfoundland as early as those of 

 Spain; and in 1577, the number employed there is estimated at fifty. 

 Tnese two facts comprise the substance of my information upon the 

 subject, except that Portugal, like Spain, soon abandoned all atten- 

 tion to the claims derived from the voyages of her navigators to the 

 northern parts of our continent, and devoted her energies and 

 resources to colonization in South America, and the acquisition of 

 wealth hi the mines of Brazil, f 



PART II. NEWFOUNDLAND NOVA SCOTIA CAPE BRETON PRINCE 

 EDWARD ISLAND MAGDALENE ISLANDS BAY OF CHALEURS 

 LABRADOR NEW BRUNSWICK. 



ENGLISH COD-FISHERY NEWFOUNDLAND. 



Newfoundland is the oldest colony of England in America. It is 

 said that in the public library of Venice there is a map, constructed by 

 Andrea Bianco, in 1436, which authorizes the conjecture that it was 

 known to fishermen before the voyage of Cabot, in 1497. The story, 

 to state its substance in a word, is, that the island Scorafixa, or Stoxa- 



* Spain relinquished her rights at the peace of 1763, with reluctance, though she had 

 long ceased to exercise them. A letter of Sir Joseph Yorke is quoted in the corre- 

 spondence of Horace Walpole, in which it is said: By what I hear from Paris, my 

 old acquaintance, Grimaldi, is the cause of the delay in signing the preliminaries, 

 insisting upon points neither France nor England would ever consent to grant, such 

 as the liberty of fishing at Newfoundland; a point we should not dare to yield, as 

 Mr. Pitt told them, though they were masters of the Tower of London." 



tThe rivers and coasts of Portugal abound in fish. But the fisheries are neglected 

 by the government. The whole number of sailors and fishermen who belonged to 

 the kingdom in 1826, was only 18,700. I find in an official document a statement 

 which snows that during the twenty-four years ending in 1825, the quantity of dry 

 codfish imported into Portugal was seven million five hundred and twenty thousand 

 quintals, of the value of more than thirty-nine millions of dollars! As late as the 

 year 1839, certainly, the government pursued the policy of levying a tax or duty on 

 the produce of the domestic or coast fishery; a fact which enables us to account for the 

 miserable condition of the kingdom, as regards its maritime strength and resources. 



