1180 MISCELLANEOUS. 



"salter," as four classes of the "shoresmen" are called, they are pre- 

 pared for the "dryer." When sufficiently salted, they are washed, and 

 transported on "hand-barrows" to the "flakes," where they are 

 spread and dried. Once cured, they are piled in warehouses to await 

 sale or orders for shipment. The "salter" and the "dryer" should be 

 careful and expert men; the one to distribute the salt with a skilful 

 hand tfye other, that damps and rains do not injure the fish while 

 exposed in the air. Three qualities are usually sorted for exportation, 

 and a fourth, consisting principally of broken and discolored fish, is 

 retained for consumption. Women and children are sometimes em- 

 ployed in the boats, and very frequently assist the curers on shore. 

 During the fishing season there are no idlers of either sex. 



The labors of the fishermen and shoresmen are almost incessant. 

 The time devoted to sleep, under circumstances that often occur, is 

 insufficient for the demands of nature; while long abstinence from 

 food is not uncommon. 



The fishermen formerly lived in the rudest of structures; but they 

 now occupy comfortable dwellings. Their food is coarse, and their 

 manners rough. Intoxicating drinks were once as common among 

 them as tea or water. Of late years there has been a sensible change 

 for the better; and a large class are moral and temperate. Their 

 habits of life are irregular, from the necessities of their position; but 

 in hospitality and acts of kindness they are not excelled by men of the 

 higher walks of society. They are to be judged in mercy, for their 

 opportunities to improve are few, and their temptations to err are 

 many. 



English cod-fishery Newfoundland. 



English herring fishery, Newfoundland. 

 ******* 



THE NEWFOUNDLAND SEAL FISHERY, SO CALLED. 



* * * * * * * 



FISHERIES OF NOVA SCOTIA. 



The original grantee of that half fabulous, never defined country, 

 Acadia, was Pierre de Gast Sieure de Monts, a protestant, and a gen- 

 tleman of the bed-chamber of Henry the Fourth of France. In 1603, 

 his royal master, by letters patent, gave him the territory between the 

 40th and 46th degrees of latitude, and in the following year De Monts 

 came in person to explore and take possession of his domains. Six- 

 teen years before the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth, he wintered 

 upon an island in the river St. Croix, which, since the adjustment of 

 the boundary line between the United States and New Brunswick, has 

 been considered within the limits of Maine. This island is claimed by 

 the heirs of the late General John Brewer, of Robbinston. Relics of 

 De Monts' sojourn upon it continue to be found. 



Annapolis the Port Royal of the French was founded before his 

 return, and is the oldest settlement in Nova Scotia. The "lieutenant 

 general of Acadia, and the circumjacent country," accomplished but 

 little. His patent allowed him to "carefully search after and to dis- 



