THE SALMON-FISHERY 335 



As long ago as 1774, at any rate, the Alexis River, and 

 soon after the Eagle and other grand rivers of Sandwich 

 Bay, were completely net-barred. Of late years the " bay- 

 men, " or livyeres, have been slowly obliged, owing to the 

 increasing scarcity of the salmon and to the declining 

 price of salt salmon in the market, to abandon this fishery 

 and try for cod. 



The transition stage is a time of great misery for the poor 

 settlers. Their nets, small boats, outfit, and habits are all 

 calculated for the peaceful fishery in the bays; for the 

 rougher fishery outside they have neither gear, education, 

 or inclination. Many try to do both. But the cod arrive 

 on the coast before the salmon take to the rivers, and these 

 men are very apt to make a blank year, entailing great pri- 

 vations on their own and other families. 



Whether man can decrease the number of cod or herring 

 in the deep sea is uncertain, but that by netting rivers you 

 can empty them of salmon, is a well-ascertained fact. The 

 former great abundance of this fish on the Labrador is 

 well emphasized in the following few extracts from the 

 journals of the inimitable Major Cartwright in 1775-1785. 

 In July, 1775, he writes of the Eagle River: "We have 

 140 tierce (casks) ashore, but have had to take up two nets, 

 as fish get in too fast." "The big pool is so full of salmon, 

 you could not fire a ball into it without injuring some." 

 Even the animals seemed to know the wonders of this river, 

 which must have been almost as well stocked as the Eraser 

 River in British Columbia. Cartwright describes "remains 

 of thousands of salmon killed by white bears round the 

 pool." His famous description of some fourteen white 

 and black bears that he saw fishing in the pool is quite 



