THE FROZEN HERRING INDUSTRY. 445 



exceptions, have a direct interest in the voyage, either from their share in the vessel, or by special 

 arrangements with the owners. 



4. THE FISHERMEN OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 



NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERMEN. The island of Newfoundland is settled only along the coast 

 line, the interior being a rough and rocky region, wholly incapable of cultivation. At occasional 

 points along the shore there is a small amount of arable land, which is cultivated to a certain 

 extent; the bulk of the produce consumed on the island, however, being imported from Prince 

 Edward Island and other points in the Dominion. With their limited resources these people are 

 almost wholly dependent upon the fisheries for a livelihood, and many of them are living in the 

 most abject poverty. 



The principal fisheries of the island are for seal, cod, and herring; while considerable money 

 is obtained from the sale of capelin and squid for bait in the summer season. In the section 

 visited by the American vessels, however, the fishery is confined largely to the capture of cod and 

 herring, and when these fisheries fail there is often a vast amount of suffering. 



The Cape Ann Advertiser of January 24, 1862, gives the following with reference to the 

 suffering caused by the scarcity of fish at that time: 



" Recent news from Newfoundland reports a sad case of destitution among the inhabitants, 

 especially in the vicinity of Placentia Bay. The unsuccessful summer fishing is the principal 

 cause of this state of things, but it is much aggravated by the want of that winter employment 

 which the herring fishery in Fortune Bay has afforded for some years past. The civil war in the 

 United States, in its mischievous influences, has for the present almost if not entirely put an end 

 to the traffic which this business produced. The Government is making every provision possible 

 for the relief of these destitute people." 



A few of the more energetic fishermen, by incessant labor and careful economy, have succeeded 

 in accumulating a small amount of money, and some of them have been enabled to buy vessels 

 and to build themselves suitable homes. The ones who have been most successful are those who 

 have catered most largely to the American trade, spending the summer in the cod fisheries and the 

 winter and spring in supplying the American and French vessels with herring and capeliu for 

 bait. Many, however, have only the rudest houses, and are deprived of even the ordinary com- 

 forts of life. Mr. Augustus Dower, who visited the island in the winter of 1879-'80, on one of the 

 vessels engaged in the frozen-herring trade, writes in his log-book, under date of January 11 : "I 

 went into a fisherman's house to-day for the first time this winter. It was full of half-naked 

 children, and had every indication of poverty in the extreme." This is no exceptional case, but, 

 as we are assured by those familiar with the region, is a common occurrence in different portions of 

 the island. 



When we consider the illiteracy of these people and their extreme poverty, together with the 

 fact that many of them are almost wholly dependent upon the fisheries for a livelihood, it is 

 natural to suppose that there would be a peculiar prejudice against any participation in their 

 fisheries by the people of other countries ; as the capture of fish by the crews of foreign vessels at 

 anchor in the Newfoundland harbors means simply the depriving the natives of the chance of 

 obtaining money from the capture and sale of the fish which these vessels require. On account of 

 this feeling the American fishermen have usually abstained from the capture of herring, and have 

 bought their supplies largely from the native fishermen ; but, as the apparatus and methods of 

 capture employed by the Newfoundlanders have been very crude, our fishermen have been greatly 

 inconvenienced both by the unnecessary expense and the additional time required in securing their 



