These small fishermen prepare and dry the cod themselves. Each 

 of them has a strip of beach. In the course of the 19th century, these 

 numerous fishing places each were provided with capstans for hauling the 

 boats up on the shore. 



During the epoch of great outfitting of the two-masted vessels, they 

 prepared at the colony, besides flat salted and dried cod, a small quantity 

 of round cod, using the best fish. The port of Nantes received almost all 

 of this product, the demand for which was then very limited. 



During the course of the fishing season, the sailing transports came 

 to Saint-Pierre to get the dried cod. A large part was transported to the 

 West Indies, a market the colony had had for a long time, for the West 

 Indies trade had the advantage of receiving the product directly, avoiding 

 a roundabout route to the French ports, thus receiving a perfect product 

 prepared for use in the warmest climate, the small size of the fish suiting 

 their tastes. The rest of the production was almost entirely exported to 

 Bordeaux. 



In the last quarter of the 19th century, about 1875, the year when the 

 bank vessels adopted the use of dories, and 1886 which saw the Bait-Bill 

 become effective, the port of Saint-Pierre was at the height of its activity, 

 regularly frequented by 200 to 250 sailing vessels of the great fishery from 

 the metropolitan ports and 200 two-masters outfitting there. The movement 

 of vessels was unceasing, with the concentrations at the beginning and end 

 of the season, and the renewal of bait between the first and the second fish- 

 ery. A veritable forest of masts raised itself in the harbor and in the coves. 

 Besides the fishing vessels, there were many sailing transports, coming 

 and going, which carried supplies of salt and loaded exports of fish for 

 France and the West Indies. Activity was lively in the town, which swallow- 

 ed the floating population of fishermen and shore workers. Commerce was 

 prosperous and the inhabitants as well as the finances of the colony drew 

 great benefit. 



The population of the islands had singularly increased since the Cara- 

 vane and the Salamandre had landed 645 immigrants in 1816 who formed 

 the nucleus of new colonization. There were 2, 100 people in 1848, 4, 916 

 in 1880, and 5, 929 in 1887. The maximum population was 6, 482 permanent 

 residents in 1902. 



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