74 AMBROSE— ON ST. MARGARET'S BAY FISHING GROUNDS. 



way called at Dover to superintend the storing of his fishing- 

 gear for the winter. Casting his desjDonding eyes over the 

 Cove in front of his stage, he was delighted to see a large school 

 of mackerel entering the passage. An eager crew sprang into 

 the seine-boat, and in a few minutes our poor fisherman found 

 himself the owner of eight thousand dollars worth of prime 

 No. I's. In a few days he presented himself again to his mer- 

 chant, again craved supplies, was again refused, and then 

 suddenly changing his tone demanded his bill, paid the aston- 

 ished merchant in full, and ordered and paid for a plentiful 

 supply for the winter. One of the prettiest cottages in the 

 parish is pretty much all that remains to him now of that famous 

 haul, succeeded as it has been by many years of failure. 



A very considerable proportion of the catch of mackerel is 

 annually lost to the Province, by the very careless method of 

 curing and packing too frequently followed on our shores. In 

 the first place they are often left too long exposed to the sun and 

 the air, before salting, and for this cause many barrels of Nova 

 Scotia mackerel are every year condemned in foreign markets. 

 Another evil is the insufiiciency of the barrels used by too many 

 fishermen. Two hundred pounds of No. 1. fish, worth from $12 

 to $15, and sometimes even $20, are too often packed into a 

 barrel costing twenty-five or thirty cents, made of knotty and 

 imseasoned stuff, and therefore dear even at that price. These 

 barrels bear no rough handling, soon shrink and lose the 

 pickle, the contents are spoiled, and the character. of our fish 

 is depreciated in comparison with those of other countries. 



But time urges me on, and I must close with a few notes on 

 the Herring. 



Of these there are several varieties. The first run in the 

 spring after the fishing commences, are called the "Bank 

 herring." They are large and fat, and occasionally come in 

 shore, but are generally caught on the banks and shoals off the 

 coast, about the first of May. These are thought by some of 

 our fishermen to be the sort called Labrador herring, as they 

 come in large bodies from the westward, and are always at this 

 season heading eastwardly, as if returning to their north-eastern 

 home. They are full of " britt '' or " eye-bait," and when the 



