86 THE OCEAN. 



common Herring, the Pilchard, the Sprat, the Shad, 

 &c, are the most important objects of our fisheries, 

 and particularly the first-named two species. 



The fishery for the Pilchard is carried on almost 

 exclusively in the counties of Cornwall and Devon ; 

 the Herring is more generally diffused, but the 

 greatest numbers taken are on the shores of Scot- 

 land and the adjacent islands. Some idea of the 

 commercial importance of these two animals may be 

 formed from the facts, that between three and four 

 hundred thousand barrels of Herrings are sometimes 

 cured in a single year in Great Britain alone, besides 

 all that are sold while fresh ; and that ten thousand 

 hogsheads of Pilchards have been taken on shore 

 in one port in a single day, " thus providing," says 

 Mr. Yarrell, " the enormous multitude of twenty-five 

 millions of living creatures drawn at once from the 

 ocean for human sustenance." The shoals of Herrings 

 are occasionally known to approach the shore with so 

 headlong an impetuosity as to be unable to regain 

 deep water, and are stranded upon the beach in im- 

 mense numbers. Mr. Muclie has described such an 

 incident. " The rocky promontory at the east end 

 of the county of Fife, off which there lies an exten- 

 sive reef or rock, sometimes has that effect, and there 

 have been seas [seasons ?] in which, when the difficul- 

 ties of the place were augmented by a strong wind at 

 south-east, that carried breakers upon the reef, and a 

 heavy surf along the shore, the beach for many miles 

 has been covered with a bank of Herrings several 

 feet in depth, which, if taken and salted when first 

 left by the tide, would have been worth many 



