A LABRADOR SPRING 
Salmon were plentiful at the mouth of the 
river, however, and it was always interesting 
to watch the men take the splendid great fish 
out of the nets, and pack them in snow to await 
transportation by steamer to Quebec. The 
nets were generally supported by upright poles 
which extended out at right angles with the 
shore to a distance of two or three hundred 
yards. V-shaped trap nets were placed at 
intervals at right angles to the main net on 
the side from which the salmon came; the 
opening to the trap was on the shore side, as a 
bewildered fish always strikes out into deeper 
water when he fears capture. In their struggle 
to escape they are securely caught by the gills 
in the meshes of the net. Cartwright in his 
poetical epistle on Labrador says: 
“The Salmon now no more in Ocean play, 
But up fresh Rivers take their silent way. 
For them, with nicest art, we fix the net; 
For them, the stream is carefully beset; 
Few fish escape: We toil both night and day. 
The Season’s short, and Time flies swift away.” 
He spread his nets across the whole river! 
Napoleon A. Comeau, the veteran naturalist 
and hunter of the north shore of the Gulf of St. 
222 
