1196 MISCELLANEOUS. 



royal navy, in the Bay of Chaleurs, which was extensive, controlling 

 the fur and fish trade of that region for several years. There were 

 similar settlements on the river St. John; but from the estimates of 

 Mr. Grant, made in 1764, at the request of the Rev. Dr. Stiles, the 

 whole population of British origin could not have exceeded one 

 thousand. 



At the peace of 1783, several thousand "tories," or loyalists, com- 

 pelled to abandon their native land, settled in New Brunswick, and 

 transferred thither the jurisprudence, the social and political institu- 

 tions, of "the old thirteen;" and, the year following, were allowed to 

 organize a separate colonial government. Like those who went to 

 that part of Acadia still called Nova Scotia, many of the loyalists 

 were gentlemen of education, eminent private virtue, and distin- 

 guished consideration. Some obtained offices of honor and emolu- 

 ment; others adopted agricultural pursuits; and another class, fixing 

 their abodes on islands and the shores of the main land, resolved to 

 earn their support on the sea. Of the latter description, several, 

 though compelled to toil and exposure in open fishing boats, had been 

 persons of note and property. But, ruined by the confiscation laws 

 of the whigs, or by the general disasters of a civil war, they resorted 

 to the hook and line to relieve the pressure of immediate want, in- 

 dulging the hope of "better times," and more congenial avocations. 

 Few, however, abandoned the employment, and their children, 

 trained to it from early youth, and acquiring fishermen's habits, suc- 

 ceeded to boats, fishing-gear, and smoke-houses, as their only inher- 

 itance, and continue it at the present day. I have often met with 

 common boat fishermen of this lineage, whose earnings were hardly 

 sufficient to procure the absolute necessaries of life. 



The fisheries of New Brunswick are prosecuted with neither skill 

 nor vigor. The apparent exports, small as are the statistics, do not 

 indicate their real condition; since it is certain, that of the products of 

 the sea shipped to other countries, a part is first imported from Nova 

 Scotia, and form a proportion of the exports of that colony.* The 

 number of vessels sent to Labrador and other distant fishing grounds 

 is never large, and often almost nominal. The cod-fishery in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Chaleurs is not as extensive as 

 might be reasonably expected from the long experience of the inhab- 

 itants there, and the general safety and productiveness of the harbors 

 and indentations of the coast. 



The same remarks need slight qualification when applied to the Bay 

 of Fundy , and its principal branch, the Bay of Passamaquoddy . Cam- 

 eron's, Doggett's, Drake's, Woodward's, Money, and Whale coves; 

 Dark harbor, Long's eddy, Grand harbor, and Long, Duck, Nan- 

 tucket, and Kent's islands, which are all in the group of islands known 

 as "Grand Menan," afford excellent facilities for catching and curing 

 cod, pollock, and herring, in large quantities. In the waters that sur- 

 round Campo Bello, Deer, and Indian islands, as well as in those that 

 wash Bean's, Adams's, Parker's, Minister's, Hardwood, and Fish 

 islands, and along the coast between L'Etite Passage and Point Le- 

 preau, embracing Mace's, and Back bays, Bliss's island, Seely's cove, 

 Crow, Beaver, and Deadman's harbors, the advantages for fishing are 



*The imports into St. John from Nova Scotia for three months only (July 10 to Octo- 

 ber 10, 1852) of the present year, were 7,861 quintals of dried fish, 860 barrels of 

 mackerel, 2,423 barrels of herring, and other pickled fish. 



