Newfoundland in 1897 - Rumbolt

ENGLAND'S OLDEST COLONY. 4L
of the finest cod and a vast variety of other fishes, such
as the eyes of man had never seen before;
and that
here was a perennial harvest of the sea which only
required to be gathered in, and that could never be
exhausted. This news was speedily circulated every-
where, and at once arrested attention.
It was a fishing age, in which the consumption of
fresh and salted fish was enormous. All Europe
England included was then Catholic ; and during the
fasts of the Church, the pickled herring of Holland
formed a large item in the diet of the people. Fishing
was a lucrative occupation. The foundations of Amsterdam
were said to be laid in herring-bones. The Dutch
became immensely wealthy by the monopoly of the
herring fisheries which they held for a long period.
It
was no wonder, then, that Cabot's discovery of these
great fisheries on the banks and around the shores of
Newfoundland created such a sensation, and gave such
an impulse to fishing. Persons of the highest dis-
tinction took part in the fishing adventures of those
days, and freely invested their money in these remunerative
industries. Thus the enterprise of the hardy
fishermen to procure an article of food for the fast-days
of the Church led, as we shall see, to distant enterprises
and the settlement of newly-discovered lands, and
brought about important political
results. Even after
England had become Protestant, laws were passed to
promote the consumption of fish among the people, in
order to encourage the fishing industries, especially
those in American waters, and also with an eye to the
increase of the navy and mercantile marine. It was