154 



SALMONIDES. 



the fourteenth century, discovered a mode of pick- 

 ling them, which was considered so remarkable, 

 and of so much importance, that the Emperor 

 Charles V., one hundred and fifty years after- 

 wards, honored his grave ivith his royal person, 

 and ate picMed herring on the green grass that 

 waved above his bones ! 



Some idea may be formed of this branch of in- 

 dustry, abroad, by the following relations, viz. — 

 Yarmouth, in England, is the herring mart of 

 Great Britain, at which place, upwards of sixty 

 thousand barrels are annually caught and cured.* 



We are credibly informed, that eighty years ago, 

 four hundred thousand barrels were annually ex- 

 ported from different parts of Norway. Sweden 

 exports the oil of herring, to the quantity of 

 sixty or seventy thousand barrels yearly. This 

 fishery has been often called the Dutch Gold 



^By the corporation charter of the city of Norwich, Eng- 

 land, the Mayor has to present to the King annually a herring 

 pie. This custom is necessarily practised up to the present 

 day. The pie has a standing crust, modeled in exact repre- 

 sentation of Norwich Castle, and filled with herring. 



The origin of this clause in the charter, arose from 

 the fact, that the city, many centuries ago, now many miles 

 inland, was the port to which the fishermen brought their her- 

 ring, caught on the coast, but in consequence of the sea reced- 

 ing and new land forming, Yarmouth has grown into existence, 

 and now become the port to which the fish are brought and 

 cured, and Norwich has become an inland city. 



