THE LABRADOR FISHERIES. 243 



" For the year ending 31st July, 1881, the exports of 

 the three great staples were as follows : — 



Dried codfish 419,997 qtls. 



Pickled herring 33i33o bbls. 



Pickled salmon 957 tierces. 



" It must be remembered that the foregoing figures 

 represent only the exports of the fishery products, and do 

 not show the quantities consumed by the fishermen while 

 employed, or afterwards during the winter at their own 

 homes, which must be very considerable. Besides, 

 about a fourth of the whole catch is sent to Newfound- 

 land for shipment, and the Canadian and American 

 fishermen who frequent these shores carry away with 

 them the products of their labors, which are estimated 

 to be about a ninth of the entire quantities taken." 



To show how precarious and uncertain the Labrador 

 fisheries are still, I quote from the following letter from 

 J. W. Collins, Asst. U. S. Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries, under date of Oct. 27, 1887, in answer to my 

 letter of inquiry: "During last July and August I 

 made a cruise in the Fish Commission schooner Grampus 

 to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, around the south and east 

 coasts of Newfoundland, through the Strait of Belle Isle, 

 and thence to Mingan. I learned that the cod fishery 

 on the east coast of Newfoundland (particularly that 

 portion known as the ' French Shore,' from Cape St. 

 John to Cape Bauld) and at the Labrador has been bad 

 for the past two or three years. But it was. worse this 

 year than ever. As late as July 26th I met Capt. George 

 Manuel, of the mail steamer Plover, at Twillingate. He 

 was then direct from the Labrador coast, and reported 



