377 



That is, of course, not very material, because it only g;oes to the point that we are 

 not dejieiidcnt upon catchinji; bait s\ ithin tlircc miles of the British coast, anywhere. Wo 

 have ways of usinuf salt bait, and tlie use of all these scientilic methods of preservin;^ bait, 

 which will, no doubt, be resorted to and experimented upon, and we may be quite 

 certain liiat they will, in skilful hands, succeed. Nothing further upon that point need 

 be cDiisidcred by your Honours. 



I now call your attention to mackerel. It is a wonl that we have heard before. 

 It is a word that we have become famihar with, and one whicli [ hope we shall not view 

 with disi,nist or distaste for its fre(|Ueney wlien we shall have left this hospitable coast, 

 and scattered ourselves to our far distant homes. 



The mackerel, may it please your Honours, is a deep-sea fish. He docs not lurk 

 about anybody's premises. He does not live close in to the shore. He is a fish to whoso 

 existence ind to ;v!iose movem(;nts a mysterious importance is attached. A certain 

 seajoh of the year he is not to be seen, and at other times mackerel are so tliick 

 upon tlie waters, that, as one of the most moderate of the British witnesses said, 

 V(nt miiiht walk upon them with snow-siioes, I believe it was from Kast Point to 

 North Cape. I do not know that I have got the geography (luite right, '^ut it is 

 something like that. 



However, I do not doubt that the munl)er is extraordinary at times, and at 

 otlier times they are not to be seen. We d(} not know mueii about them. We know 

 tiiey disappear from the waters of our wliole coast, from Labrador down to the extreme 

 southerly coast, and then at the early opening of the spring they reapi)ear in great 

 nun\b(n's. armies of them. They can no more be counted tiian (he sand of the sea, and are 

 as little likely to be diminislied in number. Tiiey come from tiie deep sea or deep nuid, 

 and llicy reappear in these vast masses, and for a few montlis they spread themselves 

 all over these seas. A few of them are cauglit, but very few in proportion to the wlmle 

 number, and tlien they recede again. Their power of nuiltiplication is very great 

 indeed. I forget what Professor Hairil told us, but it is very great indeed. Metliods 

 have been taken to jiresrrve their spawn, that it may be secured against the peril of 

 destruction by other fisli, and the perils of the sea. They are specially to be found upon 

 f'le banks of the dulf of St. Lawrence, the Bradelle or Bradley Banks, tlie Or[)lian, 

 Miseou, (ireen, Fisherman's Bank, and olf the coast of Prince Edward Island, and 

 especially, inon; than anywhere else, aiiout the Magdalen Islands ; and in tlie autumn, 

 us they are [lassing down to their unknown lioiiu's, they are to be founil in great 

 numbers directly oit the western coast of Cape Breton, near the highlands opposite 

 Margaree Islands, and near Port Hood ; but in tlic main, they are to be found 

 all over the deep sea of the Ciidf of St. Lawrence. Tlie Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 is full of ledges, banks, and eddies formed by meeting tides, whicli Professor Hind 

 described to us, and there the nuickerel are es[)eciaUy gathered together. The 

 map drawn on the British side, in the Britisli interest, shows this enormous field 

 forthe mackerel fisheries, and though very few comiiarativcly of the banks and 

 ledges are put down, yet in looking over this map, it seems as if it was a sort 

 of great directory, showing the abodes of the mackerel, and also the courses that 

 the mackerel take in passing from one part of this great sea to another. There 

 is hardly a jilace where mackerel fishing grounds an; not marked out here, and 

 they ari! nearly all marked out at a considerable distance from the shoi .', all around 

 the Mai;<laleii Islands, for many miles; and at a distance from Prince Kdward Island, 

 and on the various banks, ledges, and shoals that are to be fouuil, and it is there, as I 

 shall have the honour to point one to the Court more particularly hereafter, that 

 tht>y have always been caught in the largest (piantities, and the best of them by 

 Anu'rican fishermen. i 



'I'liere art; one or two experienced witnesses from (iloucester, who have dealt with 

 the subject carefully, for their own interests, not testifying for any particular purpose, 

 but having kept their books and accounts, and dealt with the mackerel in their own 

 business, whoso words I would like to recall to the attention of the Court for a few 

 moments. 



Cai)tain Maddocks, of Gloucester, on page 135 of the American evidence, 

 testifies as follows : — • 



" Finm my oxpiM'ii'Mi'c my JMilv'iiuMil^ lead-! mo tn tliiiik tlint nnr vossi'lsi wnulil jiot full ns many, 

 if not inori', by sl:iyiiiL; (lulsiilc dl the (Ini'r-iiiile i';iiii;r nltcii;i'tliiM'. Ily ^,Min|,' insjinre Hicif imni soiiiili)Hi:s 

 get a .ipiirf nf innrkn'ti, Imi \':wy arc lin'u liiil'lr In 1:0 finllici- iiite llie Iku'Iihmi-h, ami luse a i,'()i)il ileal of 

 time. Wlici'iuis it llicy woiilil lish I'lirtlit'i oil' ilicy wiiiiM save 11 Ltnnd ilea' , if lime. I think that for 

 ten or twenty yi'ai's liaok ihey migliL have caught, well, .somewhere fiom a tenth or a til'teeutli part of 



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