296 LABRADOR 
wegian coast in January, host following host in a north- 
easterly direction. Sometimes they are delayed by the 
coldness of the season,and may then not run in until March. 
Professor Hind has prepared the preceding table of arrival 
and departure in average years at different latitudes on the 
Labrador. It may be noted that the cod of the western 
Atlantic coast ranges from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of 
Boothnia in lat. 75° north. 
The smaller fish leave the shore first; the larger ones re- 
main on the near banks till well into November, when they 
withdraw into deeper water. Buffon said they retired to 
the polar seas, but it seems impossible that they go very 
far. Some Labrador cod are known to winter on the Grand 
Banks, as some with Frenchmen’s banking hooks sticking 
in their mouths have been captured by the Labrador crews. 
As cod began to show real or apparent failure on the New- 
foundland coast, and then on the Grand Banks, the great 
fleet of fishing vessels began to turn its bows northward. 
First, a few venturesome fishermen crossed the Strait of 
Belle Isle without having wetted a line or net, and risked 
their summer’s catch off the Labrador coast. These early 
pioneers were richly rewarded, and others soon followed 
in their wake. As it became imperative for more and more 
families to seek a living from Labrador, many, who had no 
means of obtaining schooners of their own, managed to 
find their way north as “freighters,” with their more 
fortunate brethren. Arrived on the Labrador, a family 
of “freighters” builds a rude summer “tilt”? at some spot 
suggested by their previous experience, and then fish from 
the land in small boats, returning in the same way in the 
autumn. Thus commenced the great exodus of men, 
