MISCELLANEOUS. 1163 



by John Erswick, who demonstrated the " benefits that grow to this 

 realm," by reason thereof, in terms that show he was a devoted parti- 

 san of the "fishmongers." 



The progress of the Newfoundland fishery during the ten years end- 

 ing in 1593 was rapid beyond example, and Sir Walter Raleigh de- 

 clared in the House of Commons that it was the stay and support of 

 the west counties of England. Yet it was subject to interruptions. 

 An example occurs in the case of Charles Leigh, a merchant of Lon- 

 don, who, in 1597, made a voyage with two vessels, and who, while 

 on the American coast, w T as assailed by the crews of French vessels, 

 to the number of two hundred, who, landing pieces of ordnance, kept 

 up a discharge of shot until a parley was neld and the difficulty 

 adjusted. 



As the sixteenth century closes, we record the commencement of 

 hostile relations between the fishermen and the red Indians of New- 

 foundland. 



These Indians derived their food principally from the sea. The 

 Europeans, in the course of their merciless warfare against them, de- 

 stroyed their canoes, their nets, and their villages. The Indiars 

 endeavored to maintain their rights of fishing, and bravely contended 

 with their opponents, until resistance was vain. The fish they 

 required for consumption could not, in the very nature of things, have 

 diminished the catch of their cruel rivals. Driven almost entirely 

 from the sea, finally, and unjustly deprived of all means of support, 

 they were compelled to plunder food to save themselves from starva- 

 tion . Watched and waylaid by their foes, they were shot down when- 

 ever they came near any of the European fishing stations. In truth, 

 whenever and wherever they were found, and whether resisting, or 

 imploring for food, they were slain as men slay beasts of prey. Men, 

 women, and children were slaughtered without discrimination; and 

 even those who were too weak to raise the hand of supplication, were 

 not spared. In a word, the natives of Newfoundland were extermi- 

 nated by deeds as disgraceful and as damning as any which appear in 

 the dealings of the Spaniards with those of Cuba, or South America. 



From the fragmentary accounts that have come down to us of the 

 events connected with our subject, we may conclude that the habits of 

 the fishermen who visited the American coasts were loose and immoral. 

 They could hardly have been otherwise. It was not until late in the 

 sixteenth century that bibles, or other printed books, were in common 

 use anywhere, or that the manufacture of writing-paper and time- 

 pieces was commenced in England; while gentlemen who could not 

 write still helped the memory by notches made in sticks, and ate their 

 food without forks. Chimneys in dwelling-houses were rare; and even 

 after the accession of Elizabeth, the floor of the presence-chamber of 

 the royal palace was covered with hay. That, in this state of society, 

 the humble class of whom I speak were rude, ignorant, lawless, and 

 wicked, cannot excite surprise. 



Our attention is now to be directed to incidents of moment. It is 

 estimated that two hundred English ships went annually to Newfound- 

 land about the year 1600, and that they employed, as catchers on 

 board and as curers on shore, quite ten thousand men and boys. The 

 vessels commonly left England in March and returned in September; 

 the fishermen passing their winters at home, idly spending their sum- 

 mer's earnings, or "share-money." The prosperous condition of the 



