t in the present century. And only within almost as
recent times has what may be called the natural history of Canadian
fisheries begun to follow the inevitable trend of evolution which
gradually changes the civilized fisherman from a hunter into a farmer.
As man increases in number, and his means of hunting down game increase
still faster, a time inevitably comes when he disturbs the balance of
nature to such an extent that he must either exterminate his prey or
begin to 'farm' it, that is, begin to breed and protect as well as kill
it. Fisheries are no exception to this rule; and what with close
seasons, prohibitions, hatcheries, and other means of keeping up the
supply of fish, the fishing population is beginning, though only to a
very small extent as yet, to make the change. Some day we shall talk
of our pedigree cod, but the men of this generation will not live to
see it.

The change is beneficial for the mere mouths {163} there are to fill.
But it means less and less demand for those glorious and most inspiring
qualities of courage, strength, and bodily skill which are required by
all who pit themselves against Nature in her wildest and most dangerous
moods. The fisherman and sealer have only the elements to fight;
though this too often means a fight for life. A hundred men were
frozen to death on the ice, and two hundred more were drowned in the
Gulf, during the great spring seal hunt blizzard of 1914. Whalemen
still occasionally fight for their lives against their prey as well.
And all three kinds of deep-sea fishery have bred so many simple-minded
heroes that only cowards attract particular attention.

No modern reader needs reminding that whales are not fish but mammals,
belonging to the same order of the animal kingdom as monkeys, dogs, and
men. They include the most gigantic of all creatures, living or
extinct. The enormous 'right' whales of the story-books have been
driven far north in greatly diminished numbers. The equally famous
sperm whales have always been very rare, as they prefer southern
waters. But the 'finners,' which are still fairly common, include the
'sulphurs,' among which there have been {164} specimens far exceeding
any authentic sperms or 'rights.' Even the humpbacks and common
finbacks, both well known in Canadian waters, occasionally surpass the
average size of sperms and 'rights.' But the sulphur is probably the
only kind of whale which sometimes grows to a hundred feet and