MISCELLANEOUS. 



1195 



Irish, Jerseymen, and Canadians, who are employed either on their 

 own account, or as the servants of others, as furriers, seal-catchers, 

 and cod and salmon fishers. 



The fishing establishments of the English and Jersey merchants 

 are extensive and well conducted. They are engaged in the cod and 

 salmon fisheries, and in the taking of seals. In the year 1831, the 

 value of their shipments to Europe was upwards of $200,000. The 

 number of these commercial houses is from ten to twelve, who man- 

 age their business at Newfoundland, either by the temporary presence 

 of junior partners or clerks, or by resident agents. 



The people of Newfoundland, averring that the French and Ameri- 

 cans have driven them from their own "bank fishery," resort to Labra- 

 dor. They employ two or three hundred vessels. A part make two 

 voyages in a season. The first fare is commonly cured on the coast; 

 but the second is carried home without drying. Some of the mer- 

 chants of Newfoundland ship both cod and salmon directly to corre- 

 spondents in Europe; while others order their captains to return to 

 me island and unlade their fish and oil at their own warehouses. 



The Canadian fisheries are small. They send eight or ten vessels 

 to the coast, with eighty or one hundred men. They fish for cod and 

 salmon. They carry a part of what they catch to Quebec, and send 

 a part to Europe. 



The colonists of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick adventure at 

 Labrador to a considerable extent; but they do not pursue the busi- 

 ness as regularly and with as much system as do those of Newfound- 

 land. Sometimes they send more than one hundred vessels in a year; 

 at others the number is much less. They engage principally in the 

 cod fishery, making a single fare and curing their fish at home. 



The Labrador fisheries have "increased more than six-fold," says 

 Macgregor, "principally in consequence of our fishermen [the Eng- 

 lish! being driven from the grounds now occupied by the French" 

 since the year 1814; and he estimates that about twenty thousand 

 British subjects are at present required during the fishing season in 

 the catching, curing, and transporting the various products of these 

 remote seas. 



Statistics. 



FISHERIES OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 



There were French fishing establishments in that part of Acadia 

 now known as New Brunswick, as early as 1638. The English suc- 

 ceeded to these at the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713; but they do not seem 

 to have formed many others until after the cession of Canada, in 

 1763*. Among the first, I suppose, was that of Lieut. Walker, of the 



* The French built two forts on the river St. John prior to the peace of Utrecht, (1713,) 

 which they repaired in 1754, although the country had been ceded to England quite 

 half a century. 



