Cm. IX, SOUTH AMERICA. 40$ 



their owners account; the other is to employ the 

 Jfhip's company in fifliing in the inhabited bays; 

 and for this the French make ufe of the harbours 

 on the weft part of the idand of Newfoundland, 

 which as being d^efart, and likewife an article ftipu- 

 i.ited in the treaty of peace, no oppofition is mad<^ 

 to it : for this fcems to me the meaning of the ex- 

 prefiion often occurrino in the treaties, Tbal the 

 EngliJJj ftoall admit the French and Spaniards into the 

 harbours of Neivfoundlayid : and not as fome infift the 

 harbours where the Englifli have fettiements, they 

 having relerved thcfe for their own conveniency. 

 This certainly is the moft natural interpretation, for 

 the latter being their dwelling and the beft part of 

 the ifland, it is not to be thought that they wouki 

 .give them away to others, the convenience of bar* 

 bours bcino; the fole and chief advantao-e of this 

 idand : and this was the only point in view a mid It 

 the contefts of nations for the pofieflion of a country 

 valuable only for the fifliery ; and where the inhabi- 

 tants, at leaft two-thirds of the year labour under 

 ail the inconveniences and hardfhips of deep fnows, 

 hard frofts, and other rigours of winter. 



The weftern coaft of this ifland, diftinguilhed by 

 the name of Petit Nord, and no lefs provided with 

 bays and harbours than thofe inhabited by the En- 

 glilh, forms the department where the French vef- 

 fels repair to fifh as likewife north beyond the river 

 of Sr. Laurence ; and ftretching eaftward forms Bel- 

 lide ftreight. In all thefe parts it is an in /iolable 

 rule, that the vefTel which comes firft has the privi- 

 lege of chufing her bay, and the befl part in it for 

 fifhing J and likewife has the title of admiral of it: 

 and as fuch not only all the timber works which 

 happen to remain there belong to the mader, but lie 

 alfo aingns to every veffei her particular birth, though 

 herein he has always a regard to the date of their coin- 

 ing into the bay : and during the whole time of the 



D d 3 fiilicry, 



