1 64 On the Means of multiplying Fiji, 



world. It is therefore through a very juft predilection fof 

 thefe li(l), prifoners in their lakes, that they fhould be the 

 firft employed for the execution of my plan. 



This plan, indeed, would he attended with two advantages, 

 befides the increafe of provifions, which would at length be 

 the refult of it. ift, The increafe in individuals, as in fpe- 

 cies, would necelTarilv introduce ceconomical ways of pre- 

 paration, to render the ufe of thefe fi-fh more general and 

 more extenfive. Many of thofe confumed frefh, would be 

 falted, pickled, or dried, with fuccefs. The Scots grille is 

 exported to diftant countries. Salmon, fmoked after the 

 manner of the Livonians, is in great requeft at Hamburgh* 

 though there are fat falmon in th« Elbe. The gudgeon 

 would be dried, as is praclifed in the Ifte of Oefel ; the 

 plaice, the brill, and the fole, according to the Dutch me- 

 thod of Katwyk, imitated on the banks of the Volga in dry- 

 ing, the bream, &c. The bouddlc would be pickled along 

 with the ib ad. Pallas fays that the latter is very proper for 

 being fmoked ; and on this occafion he mentions the Mar- 

 douan-Tfchouvafches, who dry in the open air fitch of thefe 

 fi{h as they are not able immediately to confume. All fifti 

 of the falmon kind, the fparling excepted, and many of the 

 genus of the cyprinus, would be fufceptible of different kinds 

 of preparation, which would give them an additional value 

 in commerce. — 2d, If fociety in general, on the one hand, 

 gained an increafe of provision ; lcience, on the other, would 

 derive great advantages in regard to the improvement of phy- 

 sical knowledge. More fpecies being collected, they would 

 be lefs apt to efcape the eye of the obferver, who would thus 

 be better able to examine everv thing interetling in thefe ani- 

 mals in regard to their organization, nutrition, multiplica- 

 tion, and habits, and to whatever conttitutes their harmo- 

 nies and contrafts. We are little acquainted with the in- 

 duftry of rlfhes j they are too far beyond our reach. We do 

 not, however, prefume, as was faid veryjuftly by Bonnet, 

 that all their employment is confined merely to eating each 

 other. 



Let us procure, then, thefe fi(h : it is well known that in 

 Germany fim are tranfported alive to a diftance of lixty miles 

 and more. Let us place thefe adoptive fpecies in convenient 

 ponds, where they will forget their lakes; where they will 

 find their accuftomed food, tutelary (belter, and thofe aquatic 

 herbs the {hade of which they were fond of in the days of 

 their infancy, and which will invite them to reproduce in 

 their turn. Hot beds are formed for vegetables; let us form 

 a new kind for fifties. A moderate fum will be fufficient to 



enable 



