New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-12
THE PRICE OF FISH"
IT,, Ner Books on Labrador and
Its Hardy FisherfoIk.
=. mENFE.L.s PARISH

z3KEsCT OF THE SEA A Tale OF Botn
70 eises OF the Atlantic By NIfred + GrenteIi;
S3-Te% sixteen illustrations from photographs and
sraEings LIMO. PIP l6G Fleming Il ReVeA
Company
man suncan- With map and six decorative II,
IrT-rsfo1s L2mo. PIP 81 Fleming II Revell
COMPANY
THE LIRE OF THE LABRADOR WILD The
stoTy of the Exploring Expedition Conducted by
ieonidas Hubbard jr, By Dillon Wallace
ron photographs Emo. pp. $50. Fleming q
Reyen Company
Nov. where in the world is LabradorT- DTl-
Ian Wallace confesses to having asked Leonidas
17ubhard. St., when that ambitious young ex-
ri7er suggested the expedition on which he
ultimately persisted. There viii be little excuse
for such ignorance in the future
Hera in fou- volumes Of fact and fiction.
& gatlkred in tn aggregate a considerable mass
st information IN regard to Labrador and its
people. A bare, rocky. rugged land it is, prac-
ticaIly iunexplored IL the interior, and with q
fprbidGing, windsWept. fogbOund coastIne; in
ser.ed; however, with many snugiy protected
harborz which afford refuge during the summer
70 tbe Newfoundland fishermen and drearily
hnesome abiding places all the year for few
porerty stricken families. Mr.. Duncan thus de-
scibes II in "Dr. GrenfeIrs Parish:
nko weather worn gray rock broken at inter
.as By long ribs of black In part il is low and
sfaryed forest 10 broken mountain ranges which
lie blue ana bold in inland waste. Elsewhere It
rears from The sea N st1penoons CHS ana loIty,
rugged hills There is no inviting stretch OF shore
Tic length OF it-no sandy beach, line of Single,
no grassy bank the sea washes thousano mics
o. Jagged rock II is an evil coast III chart
ed where ehErted ct al; some part Of the present
Gay map Is based upon the guessSork Of the e1gh-
teeu1h century nsFlgatorS
Nothing grows there. The only harvest is
fish When fish are plenty, but not too plenty
The Labrador man is prosperous, and can lay il
supplies Of -four, tea salt, sugar, and perhaps
potatoes TO last him through the long winter
i FISH are scarce. or so abundant as to cause Z
fan N the normal price, he starves- To be sure
here and there things have been made to grow
n tiny patches Of soil imported from England
or sOO0ped II pailfuls from EoIlows of the rocks
-Cune with me" said an old skipper, an II
show you so fine a garden as ever you seed" i
WIS On AZ island two miles of the coast
Actually q natural meadow. it had been wor
froIn the wilderness by the labor Of generations
Il il grew some potatoes about as large a!
marbles. and a little gray, weak kneed grass
i covered about an acre, and was owned ant
cultivated by eleven families! But were you Il
ask the average fisherman Of some remote out
port what his -four was made Of '.he would star,
al you and be mute. Wheat would be a new
Meaningless word TO many man Of thos;
places"
Three classes OF people are found on Labrador
besides the rapidly disappearing Indians and the
Esquimaus Of the North. First, there is the
-lveyere" SO called simply enough because he
VIII tel you n answer TO your question. oh
aye. Zur, lives yere." He fishes traps and
e1lstS-Then he does not perish-always in debt
to the PLANTER who advances the salt to cure
his catch, which the planter takes at the end OF
The season in exchange for provisions at thirty
prices He disposes Of what furs he secures il
The winter to the Fgldson's Bay Company on sim.
lar terms Ee is shiftless, lliterate and wretch.
ed-and does not know It. ~'Tis short feast
and long famine" he VIII say. quite cheerfully
Il Is the only life he knows. Then there is the
Newfoundland "outporter." who fishes the re-
n9ter coast with hook and line. With all his
family ne goes thither in the spring and lives
L little one-room tilt or log hut He takes
Passage with one Of the more prosperous New
iounolanc -Labradormen," who picks him up
With his people and their sailed fish, on hi!
fslUn u the fall Life is no picni,
even for this thirc and comparatively vel
" 90 class who own or sail in schooner.
snd fish with nets. When the fish ar,
r1nhing the labor IS incessant and rnerci
kssly hard 1.-The toll at the oars and at tn,
Splitting table IA clever hand viii split-tha
z eeaD-thirty fish a minutel whether on decl
o. o. abe stages-and the lack Of sleep and tn,
a-d salt spray-is all bitter cruel 10 suffer" Blu
'ney, TOO. ere strangely content. IT'S a harC
NE" Mr.. Duncan said to one old skipper, who's.
ees vas made I'D OF his sons and grandsons