THE HISTORY OP DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 51 



quent alterations of these enactments, and the branding 

 and packing legislation of the period now spoken of is, 

 as a consequence, rather intricate. 



But of the several ampliations to the herring fishing laws 

 in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, those rela- 

 tive to the practice of u sale-hunting ' are the most im- 

 portant. This peculiar trade has originated in the Dutch 

 fisheries' particular situation. Being obliged to fish far from 

 their own shores, the busses would have lost much precious 

 time if they had been obliged to sail home as soon as their 

 cargo was completed, and land their fish before catching 

 more. They would, moreover, in most cases have lost the 

 advantage of landing herring very early in the season, and 

 being first in the market, which was, and is, of great im- 

 portance, as freshly salted or " new ' herring has always 

 been very much appreciated, and paid for at several times the 

 price of fish caught or sold later in the year.* To secure the 



In fact, a frantic eagerness to be first in the market has always 

 been an interesting characteristic of the Dutch herring trade in the 

 early season ; so much so, that it may be doubted whether the very 

 real advantage of selling the first barrels in any given market was 

 often worth the outlay of money and trouble made to secure it. 

 Throughout the Republic's time, slow coaches and slower canal boats 

 were the only convey ances ; the Dutch never were great horsemen, 

 and journeys on foot were not disdained even by those endowed with 

 worldly goods. But on the day when the first " ventjagers" arrived at 

 Rotterdam, or Vlaardingen, no speed was deemed sufficient to carry 

 the first barrels of " new'' herring to the inland towns. Dealers kept 

 light curricles and fleet horses on purpose, and the minute a few 

 barrels were unshipped and assayed, a furious race to the Hague, 

 Amsterdam, &c., began. Each of the vehicles could carry a few 

 barrels only, and the profit of the thing perhaps did not generally 

 cover the expense. But to be first in the market anywhere was always 

 a point of honour with the Dutch herring-dealer ; and the day when 

 the first herring arrived, and the barrels were posted across country in 

 chaises, with foaming teams and streaming (lags, was a day of general 



