ON THE ECONOMICAL USES OF FISHES. 189 



the greatest advantage. A dark niglit is generally 

 most successful, and the drawing the nets in the 

 morning is said to present a very animated scene. 



Herrings are eaten hoth -when fresh, pickled, or 

 dried. In the fresh state, in towns in the neighbour- 

 hood of the sea, the consumption is at times enor- 

 mous, for the herring furnishes a very cheap article 

 of food to all classes. We recollect seeing this fish, 

 a few years ago, sold in the streets of Edinburgh, 

 for several weeks, at the rate of twelve for a penny. 

 In this country the best pickled herring are con- 

 sidered to be those from Lochfine, on our west coast, 

 and this is owing, not so much to the greater atten- 

 tion there paid in curing them, as to their original 

 superior excellence and larger size. 



Another fish belonging to the valuable family of 

 herrings, the pilchard, Clupea pilchardus^ though 

 not quite so large as the herring, is yet of great 

 importance in an economical point of view, when 

 we consider that the average value of the pilchards 

 taken annually, in Cornwall alone, is between 

 £50,000 and £60,000. In 1827, the total amount 

 of capital invested in this fishery was £441,215, 

 giving employment to upwards of ten thousand per- 

 sons, fishermen and others. 



This fish is met with in various parts of the 

 European seas, as on the coasts of France, but 

 especially those of Cornwall and Devon, where there 

 is an extensive pilchard fisheiy during the months of 

 August and September. As far back as the days of 

 Elizabeth, statutes were enacted for the protection 



