57 



air. Three qualities are usually sorted for exportation, and a fourtli, 

 consisting principally of broken and discolored fish, is retained for con- 

 sumption. Women and children are sometimes employed in the boats, 

 and very frequently assist the curers on shore. During the fishing 

 season thete are no idlers of either sex. 



The labors of lhe fishermen and shoresmen are almost incessant. 

 The time devoted to sleep, under circumstances that often occur, is 

 insufficient for the demands of nature; while long abstinence from 

 food is not uncommon. 



The fishermen formerly lived in the rudest of structures ; but they 

 now occupy comfortable dwellings. Their food is coarse, and their 

 manners rough. Intoxicating drinks were once as conjmon among 

 them as tea or water. Of late years there has been a sensible change 

 for the better; and a large class are moral and temperate. Their habits 

 of life are irregular, from the necessities of their position ; but in hos- 

 pitality and acts of kindness they are not excelled by men of the 

 higher Walks of society. They are to be judged in mercy, for their 

 opportunities to improve are few, and their temptations to err are many. 



English cod-fishery — Naifoundland. 



