SALTING COD-FISH. 249 



even those that manifest any upward tendeiicy share the same 

 treatment. All that remain at bottom, you may depend upon 

 it, good reader, are perfectly sound, and not less palatable than 

 any that you have ever eaten, or that your best guinea-fowl has 

 last dropped in your barn-yard ; but let us return to the cod-fish. 

 The fish already procured and salted is taken ashore at the new 

 harbour by part of the crew, whom the captain has marked as 

 the worst hands at fishing. There on the bare rocks, or elevated 

 scaffolds of considerable extent, the salted cods are laid side by 

 side to dry in tlie sun. They are turned several times a day, 

 and in the intervals the men bear a hand on board at clearing 

 and stowing away the daily produce of the fishing banks. 

 Towards evening they return to the drying grounds, and put up 

 the fish in piles resembling so many haystacks, disposing those 

 towards the top in such a manner that the rain cannot injure 

 them, and placing a heavy stone on the summit to prevent their 

 being thrown down, should it blow hard during the night. 

 You see, reader, that the life of a Labrador fisherman is not one 

 of idleness. The capelings have approached the shores, and in 

 myriads enter every basin and stream to deposit their spawn, 

 for now July is come, the cods follow them as the bloodhound 

 follows his prey, and their compact masses literally line the 

 shores. The fishermen now adopt another method. They have 

 brought with them long and , deep seines, one end of which is, 

 by means of a line, fastened to the shore, while the other is in 

 the usual manner drawn out in a broad sweep, to inclose as 

 great a space as possible, and hauled on shore by means of a 

 capstan. Some of the men in boats support the corked part of 

 the net, and beat the water to frighten the fishes within towards 

 the land ; while others, armed with poles, enter the water, hook, 

 the fishes, and fling them on the beach, the net being gradually 

 drawn closer as the number of fishes diminish. What do you 

 think, reader, as to the number of cods secured in this manner 

 at a single haul ? — twenty or thirty thousand. You may form 

 some notion of the matter when I tell you that the young 

 gentlemen of my party, while going along the shores, caught 

 cod-fish alive with their hands, and trouts of weight with a piece 

 of twine and a mackerel hook hung to their gun rods ; and that 

 if two of them walked knee-deep along the rocks, holding a 



