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crew, who ^re left on board, to begin a series of operations whicli, 

 when completed, leave the fish in the form in which the consumer buys 

 them. From the dressing-table the fish are thrown down the hatch- way 

 to the Salter, who commences the process of curing by salting and 

 placing them in layers in the bottom of the vessel. If the master in- 

 tends to remain on the coast until his fish are ready for market, they 

 are commonly taken on shore as soon as caught, and there dre.ssed, 

 salted and dried, before being conveyed to the vessel. If, on the con- 

 trary, it be his intention to dry them at home, as is now the common 

 practice, the Salter's duty is the last that is performed abroad. The 

 bait used in the Labrador fishery is a small fish called capelin. This 

 small but useful fish seldom remains on the fishiiig-ground for more 

 than six weeks in a season ; a time which is long enough for securing 

 a fuU supply, and which an experienced and energetic master does 

 not often allow to pass away without one. The average produce 'of 

 this fishery may be estimated at about ten quintals to every ton of the 

 vessels employed in it, though the best masters are dissatisfied when 

 they fail to catch a fourth or fifth more. 



The selection of a master is a point so important to owners that a 

 ;word upon his qualifications will not be amiss. Besides all the respon- 

 sibilities at sea which devolve upon a master in the merchant service, 

 he has cares and anxieties, which are unknown to that branch of mar- 

 itime adventure. His passage being safely made, the master of the 

 merchantman is relieved by the counsel and assistance of the owner or 

 consignee. But it is not so with the master of the fishing vessel. Du- 

 ring the period devoted to fishing, his labor is arduous in the extreme; 

 and come what wiU, in the desolate and distant regions which he visits, 

 his own sagacity and prudence Eire his only rehance. If, as not unfre- 

 quently happens, he be so unfortunate as to have among his crew two 

 or three refractory spirits, who seek to poison the minds of all the rest; 

 if others, who boasted loudly, before sailing from home, how well and 

 quickly they could use the splitting-knife, or how true and even-handed 

 they were in distributing the salt, prove too ignorant to be trusted ; or 

 if every man under his charge, without being dogged or incapable, is 

 stiU oif so leaden a mould as to remain immovable under promises of 

 bounty or promotion ; — these difficulties must be but new inducements 

 to use extraordinary personal exertions, and to preserve his reputation 

 at the expense of his health and strength. Even if there are none 

 of these embarrassments to contend with, his ordinary employments 

 require an iron frame, and an unconquerable resolution. 



A friend who has seldom failed to accomplish what he has under- 

 taken, apd whose life has been full of daring enterprises, has often as- 

 sured me, that while on the Labrador shore, his duty and the fear of 

 making a " broken voyage" kept him awake and at his post full twenty 

 hours every day throughout the time employed in taldng fish. " Once," 

 said he, "I was deceived by every man that I had on board my ves- 

 sel, my mate alone excepted. Each shipped, as is usual, to perform a 

 particular service, and each boasted of his accomphshments in catching, 

 dressing down or salting away ; but there was neither a good boatman, 

 an adroit splitter, nor a safe Salter, among them aU. My situation was 

 painful enough. I was interested in the loss or gains of the voyage, 



