I 



I 



FISHES. 6 1 7 



fishermen then haul in the hne, with the fish attached to it. Eight 

 hundred fish might be, and often have been, taken by eight men in a 

 few hours by this operation ; but many fishermen say now that they 

 consider themselves fortunate when they get a fish on every fifth 

 hook on an eight-lined ' taes '-line." 



Hungry cod-fish will seize almost any kind of bait, and this is used 

 either fresh or salted. The fresh bait is furnished by the herring, 

 whiting, and capelan, a little fish which in the spring descends from 

 the North Sea in shoals, pursued by the cod-fish. In the terror 

 caused by the innumerable bands of their enemies, the capelans 

 spread themselves in all the seas round Newfoundland in masses so 

 thick that the waves throw them ashore, and they accumulate 

 occasionally in heaps upon the sandy beach. 



The principal fishery for capelan intended for bait takes place on 

 the coast of Newfoundland. The inhabitants of these regions carr>' 

 their booty to the fishermen who make Saint-Pierre their rendezvous, 

 with whom they find ready purchasers. 



The schooners, with a fair provision of bait, leave Saint-Pierre and 

 other ports, take a north-easterly direction towards the great bank, 

 and, having chosen their fishing-ground, cast anchor in fifty or sixty 

 fiithoms, and forthwith the crew^s give their sole attention to the 

 work ; some of them watch the lines, which are raised every instant, 

 the captured fish removed, and the hooks re-baited; others subject the 

 captured fishes to a first preparation for preserving them ; they are 

 opened, the entrails removed, and the fish split in two, and piled one 

 on the other, and covered with salt. This labour goes on as long as 

 the fisliing lasts. The sailor is on deck night and day, covered with 

 oil and blood, and surrounded with all sorts of offal and fish-like 

 smells. But this alone is insufficient. Boats manned by crews of 

 two or three sailors, are continually moving about, attending to the 

 more distant lines, or " taes," wiiich radiate round the ship in all 

 directions. 



One portion of the cod caught is dispatched to Europe in a fresh 

 state, without other preparation than the salting which they receive 

 on the deck of the schooner. But much the greater portion are 

 carried on shore and subjected to further preparation. vSaint-Pierre 

 and Micjuelon Islands, which are granted to the French fishermen on 

 condition that no fortifications are erected on them, are resorted to for 

 the purpose by the French fleet; St. John's, the capital, by the 

 English. The Comte de Gobineau gives an animated picture of the 

 whole process of curing the cod-fish in the " Tour du Monde for 

 1863." " The French houses which pursue this branch of trade," he 



