248 BRITISH ABIERICA.

about twenty shillings per month for navigating the vessel : the crew have five—eighths of the fish caught, and the owners three-eighths of the whole.

The first spring voyage is made by them to the banks; the second either to the banks, Gulf of St Lawrence, or the coast of Labrador; the third, or fall voyage, is again to the banks; and a fourth, or second fall voyage, is also made, sometimes, to the banks.

In these fisheries the Americans have annually engaged from 1500 to 2000 schooners, of 90 to 130 tons, manned by about 30,000 men. Many of these vessels are employed again during winter in the coasting trade, or in carrying fish and other produce to South America and the West Indies.

The exports of cod-fish from the United States, wholly caught in the British American seas, average about 400,000 quintals annually,—nearly equal to half the quantity exported altogether by the British from Newfoundland and Labrador; and the home consumption of the Americans is equal to 1,200,000 quintals?‘e

To the depreciation of the value of fish in foreign markets, caused by the privileges thus granted the French and Americans, and in a particular degree to the limited demand for fish oils, in the home market, may be attributed nearly altogether the depressed and still declining condition of the British American fisheries. The heavy duties exacted in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, occasion, no doubt, less

it See reports of the American Congress, from 1825 to 1828.