Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-09-22
Fisheries Mt Cancale.

The fishing feet of Cancale, both for
dredging oysters and catching fish,
mum lers more than POO lugger-ribbed
craft of small tonnage. These boats are
owned partly by single individuals,
partly by their crews. who have dubbed
together Tor copartnership. Their
tack.e and gear cost as much as the
boats and sails; the nets. which are
Gin ely male at Nantes, being the great
item of expense The seine is never
used; the traNl, whi,h is fitted with a
huge he ,d-bagor recepta lie, be NO the
sort OF snare generally adopted. Each
boat has functionary called I'm s.
ess:" that is, woman who has con-
tracted, under certain con iitions, for
the sale of the take of the craft. The
crew have, therefore, nothing to do
with the disposal of the fish. The pro-
duce of the sale effec ed by the s.mis-
tress' is generally divided into five
pats-two 10 the owner or owners of
The boa one to the skipper and two to
the crew, the woman having pre- ious-
lv deducted her legitimate profits.
The life of a "Cancalais," as
these fishermen dub themselves, is
one even more rife with danger
than that of others of their calling.
The Bay of Mont st. Michel is one of
the most perilous seas in the world.
K Iuinoctial tides rise in it to the height
of fifty feet, and ordinary tides to thir-
ty-five feet. The stance between high
and low water marks is more than six
miles in some places, and the rapidity
o. the currents, especially on a stormy
day, understandable. Quicksands, too,
are numerous. and boat shoaled on
one of them during ebb-tide has little
chance OF its crew being saved; as re
CARDS itself, none. In calm weather
the boats fish in the shallowest waters,
Their keels occasionally heeling in the
mud; and here they take soles, turbot,
doree, brill and skate in cons derable
quantities. Government forb DIS fishing
w thin m ie of the shore; but so soon
a' night sets in and screens the fisher
men and the fleets from the look. outs
OF the steam gunboat at Granville and
the coast-guard sailing schooner at
Cancale, the boats are run with n the
prescribed limits. and the forb' dden
fruit is tasted. Oysters are allowed
to be taken only on certain days at
certain times of the year, stri It watch
being kept by the two vessels above
mentioned, from which sigma are
made when dred ging is to common e
and to cease. f shlng proper, how
eve, goes on all the year. the only re-
striction. with the exception of the
fixed distance from shore, as already
ment oned, being that of mailage, or
size of the meshes of the nets. Meshes
wider by fraction of an inch ,ly,
having been ordered by the Govern
ment to be used and their use continued
for a .ew years, brought the population
OF Cancale to the verge of starvation,
fishes that were entangled before es APP
ing now. In fact, so momentous a
question is this one of maiiaye among
a class of individuals who earn their
living from the depths OF the sea that
candidates for State or municipal offices
invariably promise the electors to OBJ
tain for them the privilege of smaller
meshes for the fishing nets, that prom
Use, whether carried out or not, be ne
the only safe card for securing sue
cess. Mailage is the bug-bear of Can
calais.-Freflch Paper