Life and Sport on the North Shore of the Lower St. Lawrence and Gulf
Containing Chapters on Salmon Fishing, Trapping, the Folk-lore of the Montagnais Indians and Tales of Adventure on the Fringe of the Labrador Peninsula
Description:... "COMEAU, NAPOLÉON-ALEXANDRE (baptized Alexandre-Napoléon), hunter, fishery warden, office holder, naturalist, and author; b. 11 May 1848 at the trading post of Îlets-Jérémie (Colombier), Lower Canada, son of Antoine-Alexandre Comeau, a Hudson's Bay Company agent ... Raised in the various trading posts in Îlets-Jérémie, Mingan, and Sept-Îles, where his father was in charge, Napoléon-Alexandre Comeau soon became multilingual; as a child he learned to speak fluent French, English, Montagnais, Naskapi, and Inuktitut. In 1859-60 he attended G.W. Lawler's French and English academy in Trois-Rivières. After this sole year of schooling he returned to the north shore of the St Lawrence. There he became an accredited fishery warden on the Rivière Godbout, which was an excellent salmon river and a favourite fishing spot for Canadian and American businessmen and politicians. He worked in this capacity for more than 60 fishing seasons. In the winter of 1862, with the help of the Montagnais hunter Plutée Ashini, he also began to learn how to carry on trapping, the main economic activity of the region. The furs, which in some cases fetched high prices, were sold at the trading posts of the various companies operating in the Betsiamites reserve and the surrounding area. Comeau also acted as a middleman between the Montagnais hunters and the Hudson's Bay Company.
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