NEWFOUNDLAND. 



381 



both may be so near that the crews distinctly hear each other's voices. Fre- 

 quently one is hardly able to see to the distance of a few feet, and the large drops 

 of the condensed mist fall like rain from the yards. During calm weather the 

 aspect of the sea is so dismal that it requires all the buoyant spirits of a seaman 

 to resist its depressing influence. For days the calm remains unbroken, and 

 no sound is heard but that of a fish darting out of the water, or the screech of 

 a sea-bird flitting over the sea. But sometimes a storm breaks this awful 

 eilence of nature. At such times the fishing-ships, hidden in mists, run the 

 greatest danger of striking against each other, although signal-lanterns and 

 alarm-trumpets are used to give warning. A tremendous wave bursting on 

 the deck often strikes them with such force as to sink them or dash them to 

 pieces against the rocky coast. Thus many a widow and orphan has a mournful 

 tale to relate of the dangers of the cod-fishery on the banks of Newfoundland. 



In some parts of the coast where the water is sufiiciently shallow the cod- 

 fish are now caught in sieves or nets. This operation requires more capital to 

 commence with than the mere boat and hooks and lines of the common fisher- 

 men, and, like all improvements, met at first with much opposition, on the plea 

 that it must interfere with the interests of the poorer class. It is obvious^ how- 

 ever, that the use of the net is advantageous to the trade at large, for shoals, or, 

 as they are termed, " schools," of fish may sometimes be seen sweeping along 

 shore, which but for the net would escape altogether. Besides, there seems 

 such an incalculable abundance of the fish that there will always be enough to 

 hook, enough to jig, enough to net, and more than enough to go away. 



" One calm July evening," says Mr. Jukes,* " I was in a boat just outside St. 

 John's harbor, when the sea was pretty still, and the fish were ' breaching,' as it 

 is termed. For several miles around us the calm sea was alive with fish. Tiiey 

 were sporting on the surface of the water, flirting their tails occasionally into 

 the air, and as far as could be seen the water was rippled and broken by their 

 movements. Looking down into its clear depths, codfish under codfish of all 

 sizes appeared swimming about as if in sport. Some boats were fishing, but not 

 a bite could they get, the fish being already gorged with food. Had the ground 

 been shallow enough to use nets, the harbor might have been filled with fish." 



Besides the cod-fishery, seal-catching is also carried on with considerable suc- 

 cess on the eastern coast, which intercepts many immense fields and islands of 

 ice as they move southward in the spring from the Arctic Sea. The interior 

 parts of these drifting shoals, with the lakes or openings interspersed, remain 

 unbroken, and on them myriads of seals maybe found. In the month of March 

 or April, as soon as the ice-fields descend with the currents from Davis's Straits, 

 many small ships, not only from the harbors of the east coast of N"ewfoundlan(i, 

 but even from the distant Scotch ports, particularly Aberdeen, put out to sea, 

 and boldly plunge into all the openings of the ice-fields to make war upon the 

 seals. Armed with firelocks and heavy bludgeons, the crews surprise the ani- 

 mals on the ice. In this way thousands are killed yearly from the north, but 

 their numbers have latterly decreased, and the seal-catchers pay the penalty of 

 their heedless and indiscriminate slaughter. 



* "Excursions in Newfoundland." 



