At Yarmouth, foreign freights, berthing,
rails, cat-heads, lower cheeks, wooden bolsters, and the crown, palm,
and shank of anchors. At Shelburne, it is divided between fish,
lumber, and the price of vessels. At Liverpool, ship-building, deals,
and timber, knees, transums, and futtucks, pintles, keelsons, and
moose lines. At Lunenburg, Jeddore, and Chesencook, the state of the
market at the capital. At the other harbours further to the eastward,
the coal trade and the fisheries engross most of the conversation. You
hear continually of the fall run and the spring catch of mackerel that
set in but don't stop to bait. The remarkable discovery of the French
coasters, that was made fifty years ago, and still is as new and as
fresh as ever, that when fish are plenty there is no salt, and when
salt is abundant there are no fish, continually startles you with its
novelty and importance. While you are both amused and instructed by
learning the meaning of coal cakes, Albion tops, and what a
Chesencooker delights in, "slack;" you also find out that a hundred
tons of coal at Sydney means when it reaches Halifax one hundred and
fifteen, and that West India, Mediterranean, and Brazilian fish are
actually made on these shores. These local topics are greatly
diversified by politics, which, like crowfoot and white-weed, abound
everywhere.
Halifax has all sorts of talk.
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