THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 157 



above, a history of their own, and one widely different 

 from that of the several trades of which the North Sea is 

 the area. As the Zuider Zee is an inlet, separated from the 

 North Sea by a boundary of isles and shallows, no enemies 

 used to disturb its fishermen, and the Republic's many wars 

 never affected them. As regards the nature of their trade and 

 of the gear and vessels used, they were entirely at variance 

 with their brethren of the open sea. The most striking 

 point of resemblance between the fisheries in the two waters 

 is perhaps the jealousy respecting them between the 

 inhabitants of the surrounding land. In the case of the 

 North Sea, this jealousy raged between nations ; in that of 

 the Zuider Zee, between inhabitants of the Republic's several 

 provinces. In both cases it led to repeated conflicts, 

 accords, and treaties. While reading the Zuider Zee history, 

 of which, as it can be of no very stringent interest 

 to the foreign reader, I shall give but a very succinct 

 account, it should be borne in mind that the shore of this 

 inland sea belongs to several provinces, which under the 

 Republic were distinct States, having sovereignty rights 

 of their own, and in this case anxious to use them so as to 

 ensure the greatest possible part of the Zuider Zee fishing 

 returns for their own subjects. Something like the " Dom- 

 inium Maris " question, on a reduced scale, is at the bottom 

 of the history of Zuider Zee fishery under the Republic of 

 the United Provinces, the gaps of whose union were 

 peculiarly apparent in this very matter. 



Salmon and sturgeon appear in old times to have been 

 abundant along the Zuider Zee shore and about the mouths 

 of the rivers descending into it ; * where, however, they have 



Several towns on the Zuider Zee still carry salmon in their 

 scutcheons. A present of salmon from one of them to Duke Albert of 

 Bavaria is recorded as early as 1389. 



