370 The Squid of the Newfoundland Banks. [ May, | 
used in that time 80,000 of the squid. A larger vessel, carrying 
two more men, would in the same time have probably used over 
100,000. As to the whole number of squid used in a single season 
by Americans alone, I have not sufficient statistics to give an ac- 
curate statement, it would, however, be reckoned high in the tens 
of millions. 
In delivering his squid, the native accurately counts them, taking 
up five at a time and throwing out one at every hundredth for tally. 
And in this the native stupidity appears, for had he ten thou- 
sand to dispose of, he would handle over the entire number rather 
than estimate their value by weighing or measuring. Since they 
must be each paid separately, and never have themselves any 
change, the skipper is forced to carry with him a large supply of 
fractional pieces, so that he will not unfrequently have one or two 
hundred dollars on board in five, ten and twenty cent pieces of 
Newfoundland currency, having secured them at some of the 
larger towns by a draft on his vessel. 
It is very strange that, though such an enormous and often 
pressing demand for the squid exists, no enterprise has ever been 
undertaken for facilitating its supply with the least possible delay. 
A vessel is by no means infrequently delayed two or three weeks, 
and in the course of her search forced to visit harbor after har- 
bor till she had coasted along-shore three or four hundred miles. 
To such an extent is this true, that the vessel will often spend 
more time in the search for bait than it afterward takes to use it 
up. This trouble might be obviated with the greatest ease, for, 
in time of plenty, the squid might be preserved in ice to be drawn 
upon when, in a lull, the catch was not large enough to supply 
the incoming vessel, and the vessel could then return to her fish- 
ing ground with the loss of but a single day. Nor would there 
be any difficulty in procuring ice in Newfoundland during the 
winter, nor any danger that the bait could not find a market, for 
the fishermen would not be long in advertising such a place bot 
far and wide. Even if there were some means of communication 
between the harbors the trouble would be far less than at present; 
it would be utterly impossible to drive a horse in most directions, 
and there is scarcely a telegraph line in the island. Hence when the 
fisherman seeks bait he must cruise about till he finds it, and at 
present he spends twice as much time in sailing and bait-hunting 
as in the actual work of fishing. , 
