158 ALL AFLOAT 



on fishing. Statistics are apt to become be- 

 wildering unless carefully marshalled in tabular 

 form. But one or two items might be added. 

 There is a fishing craft of some kind, however 

 small most of them are, to every single family 

 in Newfoundland, a proportion immeasurably 

 higher than in any other country in the world. 

 But even more astonishing is the statistical fact 

 that the fishermen of all nations in Newfound- 

 land waters catch each year nearly iooo cod- 

 fish for every single individual person there is 

 in the whole population of the island. After 

 this, numbers seem rather to weaken than 

 strengthen the argument. But it is worth 

 mentioning that there are nearly 80,000 local 

 fishing boats of all sorts actually counted by 

 the governments of Canada and Newfoundland, 

 from little rowboats up to full-powered steamers 

 of considerable tonnage ; that nearly a quarter 

 of the whole number in 1913 already had 

 gasoline or other motors ; that the total length 

 of all the Canadian and Newfoundland coast- 

 lines is nearly equal to that of the equator ; 

 that, excluding all parts of the Great Lakes 

 within the American sphere of influence, the 

 fresh-water fishing area of Canada exceeds 

 the total area of the British Isles by more than 

 100,000 square miles ; and, finally, that the 



