OPERATIONS DURING THE FISHING SEASON. 227 into the form of a small fish, with two hooks fixed into its mouth, and turned outwards in opposite di- rections. It is made fast to a line, which is thrown over into the sea, and by jerking it up and down, the hooks frequently fasten into the cod or other fish ; the cod, which is probably the most voracious fish we know, also darts at, and swallows, the artificial fish with the hooks fastened to it. By these methods vast quantities of cod are caught. Seines are also used to catch cod ; and vast numbers are hauled ashore on the coast of Labrador in this manner. When the boats are stationed on the fishing ground, which is sometimes within the harbours, and, in the first of the season, near the shore, the men sit or stand at equal distances from the gunwales, and each attends to his own lines. So abundant are the fish at times, that a couple of cod are hooked on each line before the lead reaches the bottom ; and while the one line is running out, the fisherman has only to turn round and pull in the other, with a fish on each hook. In this way they fill the boat in a very short time. If the cod be very large, it is lifted into the boat, as soon as it comes to the water's edge, by a strong iron hook fixed on the end of a short pole, called a gaft. As soon as the boat is loaded, they proceed to the stage on the shore with the fish, when the opera¬ tions of splitting and salting succeed. Fish should be brought to the shore within forty-eight hours at farthest after it is caught. When plentiful, the boats often return in two or three hours, and push away