1 40 THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



that herring-fishery first began to develop at Maassluis 

 towards the end of the seventeenth century, and that it was 

 from the beginning under the superintendence of the same 

 corporation who represented the cod-fishery. If the 

 Commissioners here alluded to had been the delegates of 

 one fishery only, the States would never have allowed them 

 to levy a tax upon the other. A similar unity of interests 

 and business probably existed in the other towns where 

 both herring and cod-fishery were exercised. 



These very scanty and incoherent indications are 

 indeed quite insufficient to establish a notion as to the 

 importance of Dutch cod-fishery in the seventeenth 

 century. Besides the convoy usually granted them by 

 the States, some testimony to the extension of the trade 

 may be found in the fact that their salt or dried produce 

 was constantly exported on a considerable scale. In 1657 

 a dispute arose about four Dutch vessels laden with 

 " baccalauw ' which had arrived at Cadiz, but were de- 

 clined admission by the Spanish authorities on the plea 

 that their papers where insufficient ;* and it is apparent 

 from the terms in which the matter was reported upon 

 that Spain was a market of importance for Dutch salt cod- 

 fish. So were many other Catholic countries, whose fast- 

 day requirements were in part supplied by Dutch 

 fish. The Catholic provinces now forming the Kingdom 

 of Belgium were, in this respect, of particular importance, 

 for their situation allowed Dutch haddock and cod, as well 

 as plaice, sole, &c., to be imported there fresh, as a Friday 

 delicacy ; whence the protective measures applied to the 

 Flemish fisheries by their Austrian Government, in the 

 shape of elevated custom-house duties upon foreign fish, 

 were particularly prejudicial to the Dutch Cod-fishery 



* Res. Holl. 1657, p. 1 80. 



