548 
THE OCEAN WOULD. 
consider themselves fortunate when they get a fish on every fifth 
hook on an eight- lined ‘ taes ’-line.” 
Hungry cod-fish will seize almost any kind of bait, and this is used 
either fresh or salted. The fresh bait is furnished by the herring, 
whiting, and capelan, a little fish which in the spring descends from 
the North Sea in shoals, pursued by the cod-fish. In the terror 
caused by the innumerable bands of their enemies, the capelans spread 
themselves in all the seas round Newfoundland in masses so thick that 
the waves throw them ashore, and they accumulate occasionally in 
heaps upon the sandy beach. 
The principal fishery for capelan intended for bait takes place 
on the coast of Newfoundland. The inhabitants of these regions 
carry their booty to the fishermen, who make Saint-Pierre their 
rendezvous, with whom they find ready purchasers. 
The schooners, with a fair provision of bait, leaving Saint-Pierre 
and other ports, take a north-easterly direction towards the great 
bank, and, having chosen their fishing-ground, cast anchor in fifty or 
sixty fathoms, and forthwith the crews give their sole attention to the 
lines ; some of them watch the lines, which are raised every instant, 
the captured fish removed, and the hooks re-baited ; others subject the 
captured fishes to a first preparation for preserving them ; they are 
opened, the entrails removed, and the fish split in two, and piled one 
on the other, and covered with salt. This labour goes on as long as 
the fishing lasts. The sailor is on deck night and day, covered with 
oil and blood, and surrounded with all sorts of offal and fish-like 
smells. But this alone is insufficient. Boats, manned by crews of 
two or three sailors, are continually moving about, attending to the more 
distant lines or “ taes,” which radiate round the ship in all directions. 
One portion of the cod caught is despatched to Europe in a fresh 
state, without other preparation than the salting which they receive 
on the deck of the schooner. But much the greater portion are 
carried on shore and subjected to further preparation. Saint-Pierre 
and Miquelon Islands, which are granted to the French fishermen on 
condition that no fortifications are erected on them, is resorted to for 
the purpose by the French fleet; St. John’s, the capital, by the 
English. The Comte de Gobineau gives an animated picture of the 
whole process of curing the cod-fish in the “ Tour du Monde for 1863.’ 
“ The French houses which pursue this branch of trade,” he says, 
