82 



smoked herring as do those of Digby, and obtain prices to correspond 

 with the quality. , , .■ i . _ , 



The general poverty among them is not to be attributed entirely or 

 principally, as they aver, to the occasional loss, of boats and nets, nor 

 to glutted markets and "bad seasons, nor to the interlopers who visit their 

 fishing grounds, but to their own want of industry, thrift, cleanliness, 

 and honesty. The few " who tpork it right," acquire property, and 

 enjoy the entire confidence of the, dealers, command- credit for sup- 

 plies, and high prices for their commodities when offered for sale. 



It remains to speak of the fisheries of the Bay of Chaleurs, and of 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The county of Restigouche borders on 

 Canada,. and the "counties of Gloucester, Nortlmmberland, and Kent, 

 aie favorably situated for adventures in these waters. The fishing 

 groiunds are safe, and generally close to the shores; and those near 

 Caraquet, in Gloucester, are much frequented by boats from Gaspd, 

 and owned ,by residents of Canada. Since 1835, the catch of both 

 cod and herring by the fishermen of Restigouche and Northumberland' 

 has fallen off more than half, and in Kent has nearly become extinct. 

 But the inhabitants of the port of Caraquet, availing themselves of the 

 advantages of their position, have actually produced a large proportion 

 of the dried cod exported from the colony for some years. These lour 

 counties are more remote from the capital of New Brunswick, and from 

 the markets of the United States, than the county of Charlotte, which 

 embraces Grand Menan, and the other islands in the Bay of Fundy, 

 (where the fish are so badly cured,) and the attention of the people is 

 divided between several branches of industry ; but fishing, as an occa- 

 sional and irregular employment merely, has commonly proved a source 

 of profit, or at least has afforded a fair reward for the labor and capital 

 devoted to it. The fish shipped at Caraquet are in much better repute 

 than those caught in the Bay of Fundy, and the remark is true of the 

 produce of the Bay of Chaleurs and St. Lawrence fisheries generally. 

 It may be presumed that tliere the herring does not " become rotten 

 before sailing;" that,.when sold as the "gibbed" article, it is not packed 

 without taking out the entrails; and that the cod is washed after being 

 split, and not "salted and put in 'kinch' in all its blood and dirt." 



This brief notice of the fisheries of New Brunswick would be incom- 

 plete without a description of the boat-fisherman of the Bay of Fundy, 

 whose professional faults I have so severely rebuked. Bred to the use 

 of boats from his earliest youth, he displays astonishing skill in their 

 management, and great boldness in his adventures. He will cross, in 

 the stormiest weather, from island to island, and go from passage to 

 passage, through frightful whirls of tides, which suddenly meet and part 

 with a loud roar ;* and he will dive headlong, as it were, upon rocks 

 and bars, merely to show how easily he can shun them, or liow. readily 

 and certainly he can "go about" and "stand off on the other tack."+ 



* Tlie ordinal^ rise and ieil of the tide is twenty-two feet. The rapidity with which it, 

 mshes by the points of land, and through the narrow straits between the islands, creates 4aqr 

 geroiiB cross-tides, eddies, and whirlpools. 



t In returning from a cruise to the coast, says the anther of "Eothen," "You see often 

 enough a fisherman's humble boat far away from all shores, with an ugly black sky above, and 

 aa angry sea beneath; you watch the grisly old man at the helm, carrying his croft with 



