312, STUDIES OF NATURE. 



From the rivers and lakes of the North are ex- 

 trafled incredible multitudes of fîlhes. John 

 Schaffer^ the accurate Hiftorian of Lapland, tells 

 us *, that they catch annually at Torneo, no lefs 

 than thirteen hundred boat-loads of falmon ; that 

 the pike there grow to fuch a fize, that fome are 

 found as long as a man, and that every year they 

 fait as many as are fufficient for the fupport of 

 four kingdoms of the North. But thefe fiQieries, 

 however produdtive, fall far fliort of thofe of the 

 Seas -f-. From the bofom of thefe is dragged the 

 enormous whale, which is ufually about fixty feet 

 in length, twenty feet broad over the body and at 

 the tail, eighteen feet high, and which yields up 

 to a hundred and thirty barrels of oil. The fat is 

 two feet thick, and in cutting it off, they are 

 under the neceffity of ufing great knives, fix feet 

 long. 



From the Seas of the North, annually take 

 their departure innumerable (hoals of fiflies, which 

 enrich the fifhers of all Europe ; ftich as cod, an- 

 chovies, fturgeon, dory, mackerel, pilchers, her- 

 rings, fea-dogs, belugas, fea-calfs, porpoifes, fea- 



horfe, puffers, fea-unicorns, faw-fifli, &:c The 



fize of them all is confiderably larger than in tem- 



* Hiftoiy of Lapland, by John Schaffer. 

 t Confult Frederic Martens of Hamburg. 



perate 



