from four to eight men. The trap
outfit costs about $500 and is furnished by the large fish firms in
Newfoundland, to be paid for with fish. As the market price, to the
fishermen, is from five dollars to six dollars a quintal, the value of
the industry is at once apparent.

The great bulk of the fish go to Mediterranean ports direct, to
Catholic countries, chiefly, and also to Brazil. The small size and
imperfect curing which the Labrador summer allows make the fish almost
unsalable in English and American markets. Many of the cod are of the
black, Greenland variety, which are far less palatable, and are
usually thrown away or cured separately for the cheaper market.

All storms come to an end finally, and at last the sun shone, the
windlass clanked and we were underway. The long delay seemed to have
broken our little schooner's spirits, for after being out three or
four hours we had gone but as many miles, and those in the wrong
direction.

At length the gentle breeze seemed to revive her and we gently slipped
by the Ragged Islands and Cape Mokkavik. That Sunday evening will long
be remembered by us, for in addition to the delight we felt at again
moving northward, and the charm of a bright evening with a gentle,
fair wind and smooth water, allowing us to glide by hundreds of fulmar
and shearwater sitting on the water, scarcely disturbed by our
passage, the moon was paled by the brightest exhibition of the aurora
we saw while in northern waters. Its sudden darts into new quarters of
the heavens, its tumultuous waves and gentle undulations, now looking
like a fleecy cloud, now like a gigantic curtain shaken by still more
gigantic hands into ponderous folds--all were reflected in the quiet
water and from the numerous bergs, great and small, that dotted the
surface, till the beholder was at times awe-struck and silent,
utterly unable to find words with which to express himself.

The next day we rounded Gull Island, which we identified with some
difficulty, owing to the absence of the flagstaff by which the coast
pilot says it can be distinguished, and, after a delightful sail up
the clear sound leading through the fringe of islands to Hopedale, we
spied the red-roofed houses and earth-covered huts, the mission houses
and Eskimo village, of which the settlement consists, snugly hidden
behind little "Anatokavit," or little Snow Hill Island, at the foot of
a steep and lofty hill surmounted by the mission flagstaff. Here