171 



ON THE 



ECONOMICAL USES OF FISHES. 



Even from remote antiquity the seas have furnished 

 an abundant supply of food for man, and the fish- 

 eries there carried on give employment to no incon- 

 siderable part of the population of the entire globe. 

 When we consider the extraordinary fecundity of 

 many kinds of fish, and indeed, of most of those 

 which are used as food, one is at no loss to account 

 for the immense shoals in which they swim, and the 

 myriads which people every sea, lake, and river, 

 " affording," as Mr. Barrow observes, " an inex- 

 hausible harvest, ripe for gathering at all seasons of 

 the year, without the labour of tillage, without ex- 

 pense of seed or manure, and without the payment 

 of rent or taxes." Accordingly, the fisheries in this 

 country have all along received the attention due to 

 them by Government, and statutes have been enact- 

 ed for their extension and promotion. One of the 

 measures from which the most important results 

 were anticipated, was the giving of bounties to those 

 engaged in the fisheries, and although this certainly 



