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Window at an hotel dinnerthere, to “ mud-larkers,” who grope for them in Thames filth, would annihilate the whole cost. It may be said indeed that the only limit tothe use of fish in Prince EdWard Island is the over abundance, a fault that newly arrived settlers at least will not make matter of regret nor complaint. The family of the Gadidae are not con- fined to the common cod, the American cod, or the Tomy—cod; there is also the Haddock, the real Nor~ Way kind, the Hake, the Ling, and several others with the local names of Pollock, Cusk, etc., and probably many never yet dignified with piscatorial language;
, The Pleuronectedte, or Flat-fish, are deficient the
Sole in these waters; but the family includes Halibut, that have been caught from two to four and even six .‘hundred pounds weight; and there is the Dab, the Flounder, and the Fleuk, but generally speaking only the Halibut is considered worth the trouble ofa capture.
The Clupeidae', or Herring family, form by them- selves a branch ofindustry, and enter more intimate- ly into the housekeeping calculations of the inhabi- tants, the speculations of merchants, and the hopes of fishermen, than even the valuable codfish; it is a fish, not ofthe line, but the net—a fish of bulk from numbers, not from siz—e-a fish that adapts itselfto measure rather than weight, and in its use comes more readily upon the table than any other fish. As a fish fresh out of the water, it admits of boiling, frying, broillng, soucing, or pickling; and as a fish salt out ofthe barrel,- adds to the economic potatoe, the salty relish that gives that vegetable its own pe- , culiar relish. A breakfast of “ potatoes and fish,” that is, salt herring and boiled potatoes,is, when pro- ‘ perly served up, and the taste accommodated to its peculiarities, one of the best and most satisfactory ot' . the Island larder. In the autumn when potatoes are inperfection, and “ Fall herring” fat and well saved, few who have surmounted their prejudices against this unusual combination, but will look forward with
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