ee ea 

: CROSS the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
A from Labrador is Gaspé—a neck 
; of land where you can travel 
farther outside of Christendom in 250 
‘miles than you could in twenty times 
‘that distance anywhere else on the 
North American continent. Along this 
north side of the peninsula there are no 
‘automobiles, no telephones and no Eng- 
lish-speaking people; around on the 
south shore, where Gaspé borders Cha- 
leur Bay, things have a little closer 
resemblance to the twentieth century. 
A big reason for this condition is the 
“civilizing influence of fish. A human 
‘being isn’t necessarily more progressive 
‘because he’s a fisherman, but at the 
‘same time anyone with enough will 
power to catch fish can generally be 
regarded as a little better than Tom, 
‘Dick or Harry. The fishing industry 
* the north shore is still undeveloped, 
but on Chaleur Bay it’s in the class of 
‘big business; so that regarding cod in- 
_ dependently of its potent liver it is evi- 
dent that when taken in large enough 
‘quantities it has worked wonders in 
boosting the towns along the south 
ee 
If salmon could be taken in large 
enough quantities, working on this 
_ basis, the coast should fairly hum with 
prosperity. So a few hustlers were 
sent out to dispose of some first class 
riparian rights, and the outcome was 
Millionaire’s Row. Furthermore, a 
railroad train was enticed into making 
aily trips from Matapedia out to 
aspé Basin, at the eastern tip of the 
peninsula. The mackerel go to stock 
the fish markets of the large cities, the 
4 cod supply half of Italy with solid food 
fifty-two Fridays out of the year, and 
a the salmon bring around a hundred dol- 
lars a head! 







¥ 
Te cod lie in pretty close to shore, 
* but twenty miles out, over the Mis- 
cou Banks, there are plenty of mackerel 
for those who like night work. They 
~ salt down cod and ship it to Palermo at 
ten dollars a barrel. The mackerel men 



FOREST. 
Vol. XCV, No. 7 

Gaspé 
Fish That Glorify the Name 
By JOHN B. DE MILLE 

“anyone with enough will power to catch 
fish can generally be regarded as a little 
better than Tom, Dick or Harry.” 
get sixteen cents a pound and then pay 
the expressage to the New York Fulton 
Street market without complaining— 
very much. 
There are so many rivers in this 
country it’s an easy matter to pick out 
two or three that are world beaters for 
salmon. Such names as the Matapedia, 
the Restigouche, the Cascapedia, and 
the Bonaventure are well enough known 
on their own merits not to need men- 
tioning as parts of Gaspé. I have all 
due respect for the royal place the sal- 
mon holds among Gaspé fish, but the 
prize sport I found was hauling in 
four and five pound trout. It may be 
a personal peculiarity, but when I’m 
working a reel I hate to get all loaded 
up with one catch. Instead of taking 
one twenty-pound salmon I would 
rather spread it over half a dozen fish 
a little smaller in size; Canadian red 
trout, for instance, 
Contents Copyrighted by Forest and Stream Pub, Co, 
pSTREAM 
July, 1925 
After this list of opportunities the 
reader will be prepared to appreciate a 
piece of French humor. In Quebec the 
ale-wife, that herring-like fish, is known 
as “gaspereau,” and although the de- 
scendants of Jacques Cartier gave the 
names of respectable fishes to individual 
lakes, rivers and capes, the gaspereau 
was picked as the namesake of the coun- 
try as a whole! To have gained such 
popularity it must have been the sub- 
ject of a funny song. 
S a protest against dignifying so 
insignificant a fish by associating 
its name with Gaspé, I deliberately ig- 
nored the species. From the standpoint 
of sport I could never see much in cod 
fishing, either. But I must admit that 
during the year spent in that country a 
fine baked cod never lost its charm, with 
a drawn butter sauce delicately added 
by one of those champion cooks famous 
all along the coast. I had only enough 
curiosity to make one trip in a fishing 
boat. 
Some of the more imaginative fisher- 
men put cod in the category of game 
fish, and consider it a day well spent 
when they bring home a pair of heavy- 
weights, after sitting outside the three 
mile limit with a ham sandwich and a 
cod line with all modern improvements. 
Business is poor for a Gaspé fisherman 
if he comes home with less than 200. 
He spends an hour or two cleaning his 
fish for the brine barrel, spreads out 
the last day’s catch to dry in the sun, 
goes to the herring nets for a supply 
of bait, and after mowing a field of 
hay or bringing in a load with his pic- 
turesque two-wheeled cart, he has time 
for a little friendly visiting before 
denting the eider down! 
DRIEN THIBAULT belonged to 
Mont Louis, one of the little vil- 
lages along the wild north shore. He 
came from a line of gasperau catchers, 
with connections in Gascony and the 
upper St. Lawrence Banks. The only 
words he knew in my language were 
387 
