OF NORTH AMERICA. 89 



Europe Lave the fish completely under their control ; but there is no 

 such thing in Canada. Old and young, valuable and worthless, are all 

 treated alike. Dr. Adamson thinks that the Hudson's Bay Company set 

 but little value upon these fisheries, and that the approaching termination of 

 their lease renders them careless as to incurring expense by erecting weirs. 

 The protection afforded by the Company was the only safeguard the salmon 

 had. Were this protection withdrawn for one year without the substitution 

 of another as effective, this noble fish would be utterly exterminated from 

 the country. Fishermen from G-aspe and Labrador would swarm in the 

 estuaries and bays, and would kill every remaining fish. Attempts of this 

 sort have been already made. Schooners from the United States have 

 arrived in the Bay of Seven Islands with well-armed crews and set nets 

 in the Moisie, in despite of the Hudson's Bay Company. The River Ber- 

 sinius was this year in the hands of an American company, who, with the 

 Indian spear, mutilated large numbers of this fine fish ; and after glutting the 

 Portland and New York markets, they brought up some boxes to Toronto 

 in September, when they were out of season and unfit for food. By care 

 the rivers of Lower Canada might be made as productive as those of 

 Europe, for which large annual rents are paid. The obstacles to their 

 proper management are, their distance from civilisation, the want of means 

 of intercourse with inhabited portions of the country, their liabilities to 

 trespass by armed ruffians, and the rigours of the climate in winter. One 

 or two armed steamers would be required to cruise during the summer, 

 about the mouths of the rivers, as on the east coast of Denmark, to supply 

 stores to the different lighthouses, to convey managers to and from the 

 several stations, and to protect the lessees of the province. They could 

 also convey the fresh caught fish to the railroad stations at St. Thomas and 

 Quebec ; thence to be distributed to the markets of Canada and the United 

 States. Prompt action is required. If plans be not matured before the 

 King's Posts are abandoned by the Hudson's Bay Company, the salmon 

 rivers will be taken possession of by hordes of lawless men, who will in 

 no way contribute to the revenue of the country, but will exterminate the 

 fish and desert our shores. A whole tribe of Indians — the Montagnards — 

 will be reduced to a state of positive starvation, for upon the Hudson's 

 Bay Company they have hitherto been, and are now, dependent for their 

 ammunition, guns, and other means by which they obtain their food and 

 clothing. 



The Legislature of Canada passed a Fishery Act, about two years since, 

 for the regulation, protection, and encouragement of the inland as well as 

 the Gulf fisheries ; and two Superintendents of Fisheries were appointed — 

 one for Upper and one for Lower Canada — each with a staff of suitable 

 overseers, &c. The Upper Canadian official has made but little progress 

 in his duties ; the Lower Canadian a great deal. We have not yet earned 

 that any of the obstructions which have caused the destruction of the 

 salmon in the Credit, the Humber, the Don, and many other rivers in 

 Western Canada, where they once abounded, have been removed. 



