180 ST. PIEKRE AND MIQUELON ISLANDS. 



sometimes necessary to cut the cable, but this is a costly expedient, and 

 consequently is frequently undertaken too late. 



Trots or bultows, ready fitted with hooks on snooding, are carried 

 in tubs, the hooks being about a fathom apart; each man baits his 

 lines, 12 to 15 in number, which takes him about four hours. A 

 schooner carrying 6 dories has to bait 12,000 hooks. A^^ien coiled 

 and baited the lines are stowed in the dories ready for setting. 



Dories are very good sea boats; they are small, light, flat-bottomed, 

 and shaped so that they stow within each other on deck. Each 

 French dory is marked Avith the name and port of registry of the 

 schooner from which she is detached. 



The lines are set in the evening after 4 p. m. The master in charge 

 of the dories lets go a bultow or trot anchor, and the bultows uncoil 

 as the men row away from the schooner in all directions. The depth 

 of water at the fishing ground is from about 30 to 45 fathoms, and 

 the bait lies on the ground unless the tidal stream is strong. The ends 

 of the bultow are marked by 2 buoys (ordinary barrels) each with 

 a stail and flag, and when all the lines are set the schooner becomes 

 the center of a circle of buoys whose radii are the trots or bultows. 



Next day at about 4 a. m. each dory puts off to fish her lines; start- 

 ing from the weather buoy, the bultow anchor is weighed and the line 

 hauled in and coiled, the fish as they appear being unhooked. After 

 hauling their lines the dories return with the catch to the schooner. 



When a certain number of daily hauls of the lines has taken 

 place — the average number a month is 25, because of the days lost by 

 the weather being too bad for dory work — the schooner returns to 

 St. Pierre. 



Bait. — From April to Juno herring is used; from June to July 

 caplin, and from July to October squid. During the last few years 

 a new bait has been discovered, namely, the periwinkle, also known 

 as the cou-cou or bulot. It is found actually on the banks, and is 

 obtained by dredging from the bottom in baskets, four or five being 

 taken at each haul. 



Fishing- grounds. — On the banks, where the bottom is rock, 

 broken shells, sea-urchins, and sand, the cod are supreme, for with 

 the exception of flounders, rays, toads, and catfish, the cod is the only 

 fish caught. 



St. Pierre bank is only fished by schooners which are too small to 

 make longer voyages. 



Banquereau bank is visited by both French and American vessels, 

 and the fish taken here, although numerous, run small, averaging about 

 1 pound. In June the cod temporarily forsake this bank, following 

 the caplin. 



Great bank has the finest cod; they average about 8 pounds, but 

 have been caught up to 32 pounds. Halibut are also caught on this 



