Morning journal and courier., 1888-08-04

ions of mine, the burly captain and his first mate, seaman, steward, cook and pa- tient, swear words target, lean, lank Tom; and there was the Nancy Mary, twenty ton burthen, schooner rigged, trim and sea- worthy as 8 gull, I had chartered for g good round month fer conveyance to any port or cove fancy might lead from Quod- dy Head to Labrador, and for g sum so small, 'sgrub an rum found, ;" that would be ashamed to set it down fairly in this record. But there was as much good for in many another idyllic day had the old captain, Tom and myself
 Sailed as a-nind
 With the kissin' wind
 along this indescribably splendid northeast coast among our herring fisher friends, from Maohiasport ta St. Andrews.
 In a jtefy we were away among them again for greeting and badinage; and be. cause their lives and ways are unknown I cannot but retell, as best may, the fascina- ting tale of their humble toll and rewards.
 THE HERRING FISHERY
 Herring in inexhaustible numbers are here. The fishers are nearly equally divided among Americans and Canadians, who, from April to December, which term comprises the sfeeason," know no other labor or hope than in this harvest beneath the waves. From Mount Desert. past Englishman's bay, Ma chias, Quoddy Head Lubec and Eastport in Maine, around Campobello, Grand Manan. Wolf Islands, Deer Island, Lee Island, Pas samaquoddy Bay, St. Andrews, St. George, and even to Mace's Bay, in New Brunswick, every mile of shore line, every swirl of wa ters, every nook and crany where the tide creeps in and out, has it's indisputable evil dence of this one expressing vocation. Her ring seines, herring boats, herring weirs, herring fishers, are all one sees or knows in human activity. s1tsf -E= 5s s5e #- .z In the region named g population of twen- ty thousand souls practically subsist upon the rewards of herring fishing; fully three thousand men and boys are engaged in the actual work and over one thousand boats are constantly in use. These are of one model and pattern, and the fquoddy" boat, as it is called, taking it's abbreviated name from the Passamaquoddy Bay, around whose irregular but beautiful shores the larger number of herring fishers have their humble homes, should have long since been famous in ro- nance and song. The quoddy is built for serious use, not pleasure. But it would still make testy rival for the cat-yawls of Bar Harbor or Newport, famous for their sea- worthiness and speed. It has square stern, 8 thin, sharp prov, is of from fourteen to eighteen feet in length and has five foot beam. It is boat rigged with one mast and sail; though some of the larger ones fly 6 tiny jib.
 The herring are taken in three different ways; by the seine, in weirs and by ''dri- ving;" the latter method, forbidden by American and Canadian regulation, being by far the most interesting procedure. In sein- ing much the same means are employed as those used in taking shad while the latter are running in the waters of the Chesapeake and the Delaware. While I have seen many 8 haul of shad made with seines ot from @ half mile to mile in length, herring seines are seldom more than twenty-five fathoms 1 long and about twelve feet in depth, with one-half to three -fourths inch mesh. In seining narrow channels and locations along 1 streams where the tide water reaches some | distance in shore are usually chosen, theugn herring stations on beaches where the tide "makes" strong In ebb and flow are quite | common, as herring shoals always seem to 1 move back and forth with the tide. In this work the seine is made fast alongshore, and | the ouoddy boat and crew start off with the 1 tide, hugging the shore, "paying out" the seine as they go. When nearly at the seine end sudden tack Is taken at right angle 1 from the shore, and then, the seine being kept taut by rapid rowing or railing, or both, | @ circling sweep is made around against the | tide to land, and the haul is done. In this | way several hauls can be made at each of the I fonr turns of the tide; as the Quoddy fisher men make no hardship of toiling at all hours l of the day and night when anything that ii
 
 the practice of seining, worse luck to tho fishermen, is also in rapid decadence, owing 1 to severe restrictions on the part of the Ca nadian and some efforts by our own authori ties.
 Probably on no coast is there so vast number of weirs. At 8 little distance of l shore it seems as though the entire land-edge were margined with continuous reach oi reeds. They are built at times when the tid, 1 is out. Each oue forms what might bt called pen of upright poles, standing like palisades in old forts. The slender saplingf l used are placed an inch or two apart, and art 1 interwoven with willow or alder; and the en | tire affair sets out from land something 1T the form of printers type of interrogation l The opening is 50 placed that portions of ths | herring shoals, moving downward with the l tide enter, and once inside they whirl and l swirl about in the great lobe of the weir, blindly seeking an exit only in the direction of the outgoing tide. This blind fatality ot | the herring Is so marked that fishermen as sert not one escapes where 1t has entered Taking herring in the wsirs is easily accom-. plished. One end of seine is fastened al the weir mouth; the other end dragged by boatmen is given half sweep aI ound ths weir, preceded by small boat in which art 1 men beating the water with paddles tt l 'tfock" the fish until the seine is "bunched; , l when the herring are dipped into the smal l boats with ordinary scoop nets. Two ol | three sweeps of the seine will take every herring thus impounded.. Often the turn o the tide comes in the night, and when it ii l remembered that there are from four to fivt thousand of these weirs upon the herrinl grounds, some idea may be gained of the ap | pearance of the dark rims of shore lin
 where flash the fishers lanterns and far their countless torches.
 THE ROMANCE OF HERRING DRIVING. 1 But there is & genuine romance and ex citement about herring "driying." It done under fear of the mighty law and cove of pitch black nights. If ths wsters be sul len, dark and still, and dense fog has stolel upon Quoddy from the sea to keep the hated
 officials in doors with their grog, fortune i
 kind indeed to the herring fisher, who ma,
 thus turn an extra honest penny for the win
 ter and little ones, away from the Ottaw
 money-bags and the bothersome surplus a
 Washington Everything is snug and ship
 shape betimes, awaiting the night flood tide
 Softly the fisher and crew of three, in thei
 oil clothes and sou'westers, glide away iron
 shore with mufied oars into the impenetrs
 ble darkuess Every square rod of water i
 as familiar to these men as the "cuddy" 0
 their own boat. The mast is left behind
 There are two oarsmen, one steersman and l 'sdipper" When favorable tsgrouud" ha
 been reached there is 8 sudden flash in tn
 boat. In moment a stronger light appear
 forward over the gunwale on the port side
 There in little wire woven dragon. or cres ) set sizzles and flames Quoddy torch. Tn 1 Quoddy Indians, at Pleasant Point on the St
 Croix, have made it of birch bark. It i
 eighteen inches long, ,six wide, two or thre thick, has cost five cents and will blaze fo
 half an hour. The moment this is afam the quoddy boat fairly leaps upon the water
 The greater it's speed the greater the luck Suddenly there is tremor in the water jus
 ahead of the faring torch. The "dipper
 stands with barred arms, resolute as if fo
 mighty deed, grimly grasping the stout har dle of huge scoop net. The tremor upo
 the water increases to ripple and the effort
 of the oarsmen are redoubled. The rippl
 soon becomes 8 spumy, seething volume, ra
 diating and widening to away rearward, as
 million tiny waves, given animate life
 were battling for precedence. Suddenl
 there is ''Swash!" and the "dipper's's ne has descended It brings back more than bushel of gleaming, squirming herring. A if for dear life the ''dipper" scoops and tn
 oarsmen row. Tumbling, splashing, cavort : ing and actually squeaking protest, as the, , are flung to the boats bottom, fish by tn scores of netsful are thus taken. There i no diminution in the myriad herring whicl | ~11uuoa and laoY1 A0 fho fore ~r,