Other old acquaintances beside these coasters were not long in coming to light. Cod is here, answering to the elegant title of “Monsieur Morue”. Boats for his capture are rated in this island fleet as bateaux.
France operates on the “Grand Banks”; Saint Malo at home, and Saint Pierre on the West, being her “bases”. But the fish-trade of Saint Pierre is not what it was when ten thousand fishermen came here every Spring to re-fit the “Bankers” put into winter-quarters here the previous Autumn. Most of the fish now goes to France “green”, the dinner tables of the world calling for more fresh fish than of old. Still, now and again the steam trawlers come here, and there’s always a cargo or two in “the making” on Ile aux Chiens, as well as on the south shore of the harbour.
It is over there across the harbour that one sees the fishwives and the women stevedores—women who take the fish in hand the day it comes from the boats and put it through every process up to the stowing in the transport’s hold. The master-stevedore chants the number of fish passing through her hands in a loud, clear voice heard across the harbour. She has evolved a dirge, a rich Litany to fish, “Un”, “deux”, “trois”, “quatre”, “cinq”, etc., as they go headlong to their last ocean voyage.
NEARING THE END.
AN ISLAND-WOMAN OF
SAINT PIERRE ET MIQUELON.
On Ile aux Chiens, women meet the incoming dories and aid in splitting and cleaning la morue. Strong personality and sweet womanhood mark these island women.
Ile aux Chiens has a trade in Caplin-curing. A host of women work among these small fish, so much in demand in Paris restaurants.