560 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



bounty of $4 a barrel for roe bait pre- 

 pared from fish caught by them. 



How serious and anomalous this con- 

 dition of affairs is may be judged when 

 it is stated (1) that a season of great 

 abundance of sardines may find the fish- 

 ermen with an inadequate bait supply, 

 which greatly reduces the catch and the 

 profits of fishing; (2) that during pe- 

 riods of great scarcity of fish, when to 

 even exist may be a difficult matter, the 

 cost of bait may be almost prohibitive; 

 (3) that the Bretons are apparently 

 willing to pay to the Norsemen a heavy 

 tribute, which during one entire decade in 

 the nineteenth century was never less 

 that $32 a barrel and at times reached 

 $60 a barrel for cod roe; and (4) that 

 the Norwegian government, by prohibit- 

 ing the exportation of cod roe, could 

 ruin the sardine fisheries of Brittany and 

 place practically the entire population in 

 a starving condition. 



When the fishing boats begin to arrive 

 the wharves, which have practically been 

 deserted, assume a very busy appear- 

 ance, and as the arrivals increase in num- 

 ber the bustle among the different classes 

 of people becomes intense. The foreign 

 visitor here witnesses some exceedingly 

 interesting and picturesque sights — 

 thousands of fishermen in their coarse 

 blouses and flat caps, with trousers rolled 

 up and their feet bare or in huge wooden 

 shoes, unloading their fish and carrying 

 them to the canneries ; hundreds of 

 women and girls in their short, dark 

 skirts, white caps and collars, negotia- 

 ting for sardines, receiving them from 

 the fishermen, and dispatching them to 

 the canneries ; sardine boats, either sailed 

 or rowed, entering the harbor in groups 

 or singly and coming up to the docks, 

 already so congested that some of the 

 boats must land directly on the beach ; 

 fish wagons going to and from the fac- 

 tories ; and a mixed crowd of merchants, 

 sight-seers, artists, and idlers. The com- 

 mingled noise of waves, boats, wagons, 

 and tongues is underlain by the incessant 

 rattle of wooden shoes on the stony pave- 

 ments. 



Soon after the boats reach port the 



nets are spread for drying, being hoisted 

 to the tops of the masts for this purpose. 

 When all the fleet has arrived and the 

 nets are hanging in graceful festoons, 

 the view of the maze of masts, sails, and 

 blue nets is most striking. 



PECULIAR DIVISION Of THE EARNINGS 



It may be a matter of some interest to 

 learn something about the financial side 

 of the sardine fisherman's life. The 

 prices received for the catch depend on 

 supply and demand and on the size and 

 quality of the fish. The fish of each boat 

 are virtually sold at auction to the high- 

 est bidder, but there is little counter- 

 bidding, as the prices offered from time 

 to time by two or three canneries are 

 adopted by the others and accepted by 

 the fishermen. Some boats always sell 

 to the same cannery, and all of them, to 

 a greater or less extent, deal with par- 

 ticular factories. 



The maximum price that factory oper- 

 ators can profitably pay for sardines is 

 $5.00 per thousand. Taking an average 

 season through, the prices received by 

 the fishermen would be $3.50 to $4.00 

 per 1,000 for the largest sardines (many 

 of which are consumed fresh), $1.50 to 

 $2.00 per 1,000 for the medium-size fish, 

 and $0.50 to $1.00 per 1,000 for the 

 smallest fish. 



The fishermen are not paid in cash, 

 but with tickets or tokens that are re- 

 deemed weekly. The men fish on shares, 

 and the apportionment of their lots is 

 complicated enough to puzzle a Phila- 

 delphia lawyer and to make expert arith- 

 meticians of the entire population. To 

 illustrate : Each week the gross earnings 

 of each boat are divided into 22 parts, or 

 shares, of which 11 go to the owner of 

 the boat and equipment, 2 to each of the 

 four fishermen, 2 to the master, and 1 to 

 the cook ; but the master receives a bonus 

 of 10 per cent of 2 shares, and to com- 

 pensate for this the shares of each of the 

 four fishermen are diminished by 2^4 

 per cent. These are the very simplest 

 terms in which I have been able to state 

 this arrangement. 



