Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/563

 12 S. VIII. JUNE 11, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 461 LONDON. JUNE 11. 1921. CONTENTS. No. 165. NOTES : The Sea-Cow Fishery, 461 Danteiana, 462 Aldeburgh Chamberlains' Accounts, 463 Forgotten Periodicals of 1830-1833, 465 Charles Bowker Ash, Minor Poet, 466 " Flippancy," 467 " Good old " Early References to Cheddar Cheese Sors lernica Marriages, 468. QUERIES .-Inscription in Old House at St. Albans, 468 Joan of Arc The Manor of Lilley Olive Schreiner Dr. G. McCall Theal S. E. Thrum English Cheeses noted by Gervase Markham, 469 Shrewsberry Hall Albert Smith's ' Story of Mont Blanc ' ' Murray's Expedition to Borneo ' Wringing the Hands Miner Magrath, Archbishop of Cashel Robert Masters Identification of Arms Hackney, 470 Charles Bowker Ash Shake- speare's Songs Family Mottoes Magdalen College, Oxford, and Theophilus Gale Barraclough The Hooded Steersman Falkirk Battle Roll Hearth Tax Button- holes Authors wanted Reference wanted, 471. REPLIES : " Tenant in Capite "Tether Book Capt. Cook : Memorials, 472 The Monument : ' Ingoldsby Legends ' Smallest Pig of a Litter, 473 James Mac- burney " Chautauqua " " Little Englander," 474- Bernard Andrews, Poet Lauieate ' The New Jerusalem ' -"The Poor C?t i' th' Adage," 475 Latin Proverb Gibbon : Reference Wanted John Winthrop : Inner Temple Tercentenary Handlist of Newspapers Franklin Nights (or Days), 476 Sir Henry Colet Old London : The Cloth Fair Vernon of Liverpool Petty France Book Borrowers Blount of Lincolnshire, 477 Sir Thomas Crook, Bart. Fordraught or Fordraft Viscount Stafford, 478 Ludgate, London, 479. NOTES ON BOOKS : Maps, Their History, Characteris- ti cs and Uses ' ' Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum ' ' The Historic Names of the Streets and Lanes of Oxford, Intra Muros '' A Southern Sketch-Book. Through Old Sussex from Lewes to Chichester.' Notices to Correspondents. THE SEA-COW FISHERY. WALTER PATTERSON was a son of William Patterson, of Foxhall, Co. Donegal. In 1769 he was appointed Governor of St. John (later, Prince Edward Island), where he arrived on Aug. 30, 1770. He was recalled in April, 1787, and died in London, Sept. 6, 1798. As the said Governor's subjoined letter to the Secretary of State is of general in- terest, it may prove worthy of insertion in ' N. & Q,.,' and one of its numerous readers possibly may be able to give further in- formation of a sea-cow. Island Saint John, 18th July, 1783. My Lord, Since the Peace. the New England fishing vessels, have again began to frequent the Gulf, and are in a fair way to destroy the sea-cow Fishery if there are not some steps taken very soon to prevent them. The great resort of these Fish is about this, and the Mag- dalen Islands. The Fishery during the; last Peace, was carried on upon one of the last mentioned Islands, by a Mr. Gridley ; But two or three years ago he fled to Boston, as I have been told, to avoid being taken up by General Haldiman. He pretended he had an exclusive right to the Fishery, given him by General, now Lord Amherst, soon after the Conquest of Canada ; while he held it ; with the assistance of His Majesty's Ships, he preserved the Fish pretty well from the New Englanders. At the present they are under no restraint. They come to fish in the Gulf, as early in the Spring as the Ice will permit them, at which season the females are bringing forth their young; two of which they have most commonly at a time. Their attachment to their Calves is wonderful. If a Calf is taken, the Mother will stay by it till she is killed. There has been many instances of their receiving several wounds, and still on hearing or seeing the Calf, they return, endeavour- ing all in their power to lay hold of it. If the Calf be killed ; and the Dam gets hold of it, she will keep it under her Fin or Flapper, till it decays -to pieces. The Fishermen are well ac- quainted with this fondness of the Females, and turn it to their destruction, they are seldom without a Calf on board their vessels, and by causing them to make a noise, the Females, whether their Mothers or not, come directly on hearing them. By this means the Mother Fish are destroyed, and their young perish. I am credibly informed that their is not a Male to be met with just at this Season. They are separated from the cows, and keep in deep water. The others, on account of their young, stay near the shore. Mr. Gridley killed all his Fish upon Land, b^it I do not believe he was so attentive as he ought, to the killing them at a proper season. By the best accounts I have, it appears they should only be taken in the Autumn. At that time they yield much more oil ; both sexes are together, and the young can provide for themselves. The manner of taking the Fish on shore is curious ; but I dare not intrude on your Lordships time so much, as to give an account of it. I shall only say it is done so cautiously, as not to alarm those that escape. The New Englanders by harpooning and pursuing the Fish, frighten them from their usual haunts, and scatter them so much, that they are not worth attending to, even by themselves. Mr. Gridley has told me, he used to kill on his first establishing the Fishery, from 7 to 8 thousand of those animals in a season ; and in the Autumn, they will yield one with another 30 gallons of oil. Their Hides make excellent traces, for any kind of labouring work, and will answer for the heaviest draft. A large Hide will cut into 20 pairs of Traces, and they only require being dried in the sun, to render them fit for use. They would soon find their way into England and would most probably save both Iron, and other expensive articles. I have thought it my Duty, most humbly to mention this matter to your Lordship, as the intercourse between the Magdaline Islands and this, is much more frequent, than with either Quebec or Newfoundland, consequently my