reigns on board of these schooners, whose decks and holds are almost always full of fish, fish barrels, salt, etc.

Before sailing from their port of outfit for the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they provide themselves with several barrels of very fat little fish, called poggies, to serve as bait and as feed, for the purpose of attracting mackerel to the surface of the water and retaining them near the vessel.

At a later period, when the poggies are exhausted, recourse is had to the offal of the mackerel for bait, and it is prepared in this way :-Whole fishes, or the offal of fishes, either poggies, mackerel, or others, are chopped very fine in a machine something like a chaff or straw cutter, and then put into a large bucket full of salt water; the mixture is then stirred for a long time with a small paddle, and this is the whole secret of preparing feed for mackerel. Machines for chopping up the fish are sold at from £1 to £1 10s., according to their size.

As soon as the schooners have reached the place where schools of mackerel are usually found, they keep cruising backwards and forwards, and the moment there is the least appearance of fish, or their presence is even suspected near a vessel, the jibs are taken in, and the vessel is brought to, with the mizen-sail and mainsail veered half round. Feed is then scattered all around from small pails; the fishermen seize their lines, bait their hooks with small pieces of the skin of the neck of the mackerel or of any other fish (but the mackerel is much preferable), and throw them into the water. The lines are fine, and made of hemp or cotton, generally the latter. They are from six to eight fathoms long, and to one end is fastened a small sinker of polished pewter, oblong in shape, and weighing about two ounces, on which is soldered a middle-sized hook. Each fisherman plies two lines, one in each hand, and leans on the

rail while fishing. He very seldom pays out more than four or five fathoms of line, for the mackerel, attracted by the chopped fish thrown overboard, thousands of pieces of which float in mid-water, leaves the depths of the sea, and comes swimming towards the surface to feast with avidity on this excellent bait, prepared for him with so much care; and while he is gorging himself with pieces of poggie and mackerel, he seizes the bait on the fisherman's hook, and soon, in spite of his violent efforts to break the iron that is tearing his mouth, and to free himself, he is pulled out of the water and thrown upon the deck, where he dies before long.

The fish are classed by the inspectors into four grades, the third and fourth quality being worth only half the value of No. I. They are packed for shipment in barrels, half quarter, and eighth barrels. Nos. 1 and 2 are intended for the home markets of the United States and Canada, the lowest quality being principally consumed in the West Indies.

In curing them, the common custom is to dip them in fine salt before salting in the barrels. When this is neglected, the fish adhere together, and become red and tainted. The proper mode of packing is with the flesh side down; this prevents the fish from tainting, and allows all impurities in the salt to settle away from the flesh of the fish. Mackerel are also cured in hermetically sealed tins, but not to a very large extent. In 1873 the quantity so packed was 21,000 cans in New Brunswick, and 10,842 cans in Nova Scotia.

CHAPTER V.

THE SALMON FISHERY.

Salmon formerly common in the Thames-Statistics of salmon brought to London-Value of the salmon fisheries in 1871-Sales at BillingsgateSalmon fisheries of Norway, Canadian Dominion, etc.-Acclimatization in Australia.

AT present one of the most esteemed fish is the salmon (Salmo salor). In the reign of Richard I. (1197), the Thames is described as containing “remarkably good salmon;" and even early in the present century the Thames abounded with salmon of the finest quality. "Thames salmon " then bore a higher price than that obtained from most other streams, and so copious was once the supply, that in the olden time it was usual to insert a clause in the indentures of London apprentices, that they should not be fed upon salmon more than a certain number of days in the month. Then came the time when the river water became impure. Not only was the population of the metropolis enormously increased, but, being well sewered, its vast network of drains poured their contents (by the authority of an Act of Parliament) into the river. Then gas-works were made, and their ammoniacal water still further poisoned the stream. Against these impurities the salmon could not contend; they gradually, and at length totally, disappeared from the waters of our queen of rivers.

It is difficult to obtain accurate statistics of the fish food which is drawn from the sea; we can only guess at it from such data as have been made accessible. The following statistics show the quantities of salmon (in boxes of 120 lbs. each) received and sold in London from 1850 to 1871

The aggregate value of the salmon fisheries in 1871 was estimated by the Fishery Commissioners as follows:— Scotland, £200,000; Ireland, £400,000; England, £90,000.

At an average of 1s. 2d. per lb., or £7 per box, the value of the 34,457 boxes sold at Billingsgate in 1870 was £241,199. Besides these metropolitan sales, 8600 boxes of Irish salmon were sold in the midland districts of England, 2880 boxes in Dublin, and 2107 boxes and 31 baskets sent to Liverpool. The sales at Billingsgate in 1871 were 35,275 boxes, weighing 1764 tons, valued at £246,925.

The average annual sale of salmon in London may be taken to be £250,000 in value.

The main bulk of the salmon caught in Scotland, it appears, is sent to London; but in the case of the salmon caught in the English and Welsh rivers, the bulk is not sent to London, but to the large towns in the immediate neighbourhood of the fisheries.

The salmon fishery in Norway is interdicted between the 14th September and the 14th February. Besides that which is smoked, salted, and consumed locally fresh, about 250,000 lbs. are shipped annually to England in ice, and a small quantity to Berlin. It costs fresh about sixpence the pound, and the annual sales reach a value of £100,000. The export of salted salmon is from 1000 to 1200 barrels. Above £7000 worth of salmon was shipped from Norway in 1869, exclusively for British account. The fish dealers, who come over in fishing smacks, purchase the fish from the fishermen as brought in, put the fish immediately in ice, and despatch the article to the London market direct, or via Grimsby.

In New Brunswick the value of the salmon taken is estimated at about £160,000 sterling.

The fishery is very valuable. As many as 40,000 salmon have been caught in the course of a season at the mouth of the St. John, a large portion of which is sent fresh to the United States, and commands remunerative prices. At the entrance to the Miramichi 400,000 lbs. are annually put 'up, preserved " for export. There is a great increase in the yield of salmon in consequence of their protection during the spawning season.

Preserved salmon is exported from British Columbia on a large scale, and bears a very high reputation. In 1874 there was barrelled and tinned not less than 14,500,000 lbs., of the gross value of £400,000 sterling.

The catch of salmon at Oregon in 1874 was an enormous